Live Phytoplankton - Six Species Blend

Live Phytoplankton has great benefits for your reef tank, adding biodiversity, feeding your corals and copepods, and supplementing your cleanup crew.

According to several trusted experts on Reef2Reef, it also reduces nitrates and phosphates noticeably in your reef aquarium, adding stability to your tank. Sadly, many other sellers only sell a single strain of phyto, but this doesn't give your reef creatures the balanced nutritional profile they need.

Each bottle/jug from Dinkins Aquatic Gardens contains six species of phytoplankton:

Nannochloropsis
Tetraselmis
Pavlova
Isochrysis galbana
Thalassiosira weissflogii
Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Each phyto species is cultured separately and then combined upon bottling.

Our Process:

Dinkins Aquatic Gardens uses lab-grade sanitation procedures every step of the way. First, we culture each phytoplankton strain separately in seven-gallon wide-mouth carboys. Once a batch of phyto finishes, we soak the carboy and rigid airline tubing in Alconox overnight, then scrub it by hand the following morning. After a very thorough rinse, we allow it to dry.

Once the carboys are dry, we thoroughly clean the inside with isopropyl alcohol and allow that to dry for about half a day. Late that evening, we fill the carboys with five gallons of saltwater and the appropriate amount of F/2 fertilizer from Florida Aqua Farms.

Our saltwater is made using seven-stage RODI water mixed with Hw-Marinemix Professional Salt. This lab-made salt is very high quality and mixes completely clean with no residue.

Once the saltwater is added, we then use bleach to chlorinate the water, which disinfects it. Next, we hook up the rigid tubing to our air pumps. The air from the pumps is filtered through 0.2 micron filters to remove any airborne contaminants. We let the chlorinated water bubble all night to thoroughly sanitize the water, the F/2, the rigid airline tubing, and the inside of the carboy. The following morning, we treat the water with sodium thiosulfate to remove the chlorine. Only after all this is done do we add one gallon of starter culture and begin the process of growing our new batch!

Dosing Size for Phyto

Dosing recommendation is 1 ml per gallon daily. We recommend buying enough Phyto (storing it in the fridge) for at least a month.