Auto phyto dosing with Neptune DŌS

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#1
Well seen the dos can go forward and reverse I decided to use it to dose phyto plankton. First you need to figure out how much liquid it takes to fill the line. But doing this I first calibrated the dos. Then after I got the dos calibrated I took the container off of the input line and put the measuring cup on it. Then I went to programming and set a 10 min program in reverse to 100ml. Then I let the program run to empty the line. When the process was done it measured how much fluid was in the cup. It takes mine 30ml to fill the line.
Now that I know it takes 30ml to fill the lline I then changed the programming. So I want to dose 15ml at 11:30am and 25ml at 11:30pm. Sense the corals feed more at night I want to dose more phyto at night.
Ok here’s the tricky part the dos only lets you dose in 10min intervals. So I had to program the dos like this.
At 11:30-11:40 add 45ml
Then at 11:41-11:51 remove 40ml
I added 10ml to the remove just in case any air bubbles gather in the line.
At 23:30-23:40 add 55ml
Then at 23:41-23:51 remove 40ml
Here’s the phyto glass

I added an air stone to keep the phyto suspended
Here’s my programming
 
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#3
Doesn’t the photo need to be refrigerated?
If your storing it, right. I’m going to see if how long I can keep it live if keep it suspended. So I took a bag of eves phyto a filled the container 60% with phyto then 40% new sw. I’m hopping that will give me a few days of life with out refrigeration. So as long as I can keep the phyto live I think I should be good.
 

five.five-six

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#4
If your storing it, right. I’m going to see if how long I can keep it live if keep it suspended. So I took a bag of eves phyto a filled the container 60% with phyto then 40% new sw. I’m hopping that will give me a few days of life with out refrigeration. So as long as I can keep the phyto live I think I should be good.
I hope you’re right, I’d love to dose phyto. I’m dosing by hand presently.
 
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#5
Yea me too. I forget to half the time to dose. The reason why I need to figure something out.

So that light that is on is above the fish QT tank. The tank is always running but the light only gets turned on when I’m QTing fish. I only turned it on to take that pic. Basically I’m testing if the phyto will go dormant. I’m going to keep a close eye on it for the next few days and make sure it doesn’t crash.
 
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#6
Following your journey after talking to @OGFrenchHorn. I have been thinking of utilizing my last pump on my GHL to dose Phyto.

Great idea on of running a reverse program to empty out the line, I forgot the pumps have the feature. The Phyto stuck in the line was one of the main concerns.

Don't forget to schedule your skimmer to be off when dosing the Phyto. I either forget to turn off the skimmer or put the Phyto back in the fridge.
 
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#7
Following your journey after talking to @OGFrenchHorn.
Don't forget to schedule your skimmer to be off when dosing the Phyto. I either forget to turn off the skimmer or put the Phyto back in the fridge.
Yea.
Well sense my phosphates bottomed out I’ve only been running my skimmer 6 hours a night. I would just shut it off but I use the skimmer to help battle low pH in the early morning hours.
 
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#10
Keep dosing Phyto will effect nitrate / phosphate?
I couldn’t factually answer that question. But it is an algae and what to algaes consume, yep nitrates and phosphates.

Now I’m not using phyto to will on eliminating algae issues. I all ready low nutrients issues. Im dosing as a coral food. But if it help reduce bubble algae that’s a plus for me.

@OGFrenchHorn may be able to answer your questions better then me. He did tell me that there’s certain types of phyto that feed on red slime and another type that feed off Dino’s.
 
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#12
So I did cut the phyto a little more. Drained about a 3rd out and add more fresh sw.

Put together this short clip that shows the dosing and purging the line. I cut the clip down cause it doses for about 2.5min then purged for 1.5min. Who in there right mind is going to watch a 4min clip of a wheel spinning lol. But at the end of the clip you will see a bubble rise up from the dos line in the phytoplankton.

 
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#14
So do you keep replenishing the phyto in that beaker? I'm assuming phyto is no longer growing, right?
Today is the second day of testing this out. I originally cut it by like a 3rd and OG’s phyto was still so dark green. So I then cut it again by another 3rd. I cut it in hopes that the phyto doesn’t populate to a point that it suffocates it self.
I’m hoping it doesn’t keep populating. Im sure it may a little due to ambient light that is coming from the frag tank above. But I’m hoping the phyto goes dormant. I read an article about phyto living during the last ice age and how it went dormant
 
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#15
Question. If refigerated phyto is fed to a tank, does the sudden and drastic temperature change kill the phyto? Therefore using room temperature phyto is the proper way to feed/dose it in the tank.
 
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#16
Question. If refigerated phyto is fed to a tank, does the sudden and drastic temperature change kill the phyto? Therefore using room temperature phyto is the proper way to feed/dose it in the tank.
Couldn’t answer that question sir
 
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#18
So it’s been 4 days sense I setup up the phyto dos, 3 sense I cut the phyto the second time. Still green and no smell.


I did up the dosing amount the day I cut the culture from 40lm a day to 60ml. Im thinking I might even add another 20ml dose right when the lights go out to see if that help bring out better PE for night feeding.
 
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#19
So day 4 of leaving phyto out, not refrigerated. Still looks green as no smell


I did change the programming tho. I went over to profiles and created a Dos_Forward profile

This doses 60ml in 60sec. 30ml to fill the line then 30ml dose in tank.
Then I created a Dos_reverse profile


This spins the dos motor in reverse for 40ml in 60sec. This is to purge the line empty
Then in the dos I added the times and profiles in advanced settings. I added a 3 dosing. So now I should be dosing 90 ml a day
 
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