Who's growing pods and phyto at home?
- Thread starter Jimbo327
- Start date
I was growing tet for a long time, tried nanno and another strain with minor success. I had some pods going and I didn't harvest in time and they crashed. I still have three 2L bottles of phyto full in the frig, but I want to start another culture again soon. I dose live phyto virtually every day, acropora love it, along with all the unique micro-fauna that live in our tanks.
My setup was/is pretty simple, one gallon glass jars with plastic screw on lids, they're drilled for rigid airline tubing, which get sanitized after each use. I was using a 17hr photo period with grow LEDs from Lowe's on a metal shelf that I put in my studio (not the best place), which is why I stopped culturing it for now. Let me see if I have some pics to upload?
My setup was/is pretty simple, one gallon glass jars with plastic screw on lids, they're drilled for rigid airline tubing, which get sanitized after each use. I was using a 17hr photo period with grow LEDs from Lowe's on a metal shelf that I put in my studio (not the best place), which is why I stopped culturing it for now. Let me see if I have some pics to upload?
I have three PhytoTanks going - culturing tet and nanno in two of them and culturing pods in the third one using a 50/50 tet/nanno blend as food.
Knock on wood, I have been culturing successfully every week since November 4, 2025. The key for me has been diligent sterilization with rubbing alcohol and frequent handwashing.
I feed my tanks 1ml of each phyto per gallon per day.
I started with this kit: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/phyt...=12815&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products
Got my phyto culture starters from Mercer Algae and got my pod culture starter from Poseidon (the maker of the PhytoTank).
Knock on wood, I have been culturing successfully every week since November 4, 2025. The key for me has been diligent sterilization with rubbing alcohol and frequent handwashing.
I feed my tanks 1ml of each phyto per gallon per day.
I started with this kit: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/phyt...=12815&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products
Got my phyto culture starters from Mercer Algae and got my pod culture starter from Poseidon (the maker of the PhytoTank).
Nice set up guys. Now that my garage is done, I can start playing with these side quests of growing phyto and pods. Anyone grow baby brine to feed their fishes?
So you guys are feeding the phyto into the tank? Can you tell if it is helping the tank? I never see much difference where I feed phyto or not.
So you guys are feeding the phyto into the tank? Can you tell if it is helping the tank? I never see much difference where I feed phyto or not.
I can tell a difference in overall growth and the amount of micro-fauna in my 90g. I feed twice a day usually, but there are days when I only feed once or just skip a day. Keep an eye on nutrients when you're dosing, as it will consume nutrients or if you do too much, increase them. Just remember, phyto feeds a lot, the good and the bad, so if you're dealing with aiptasia and/or vermitids, it can add fuel to the fire. But I think dosing phyto is worth it in the end. I have some cool squirts, tunicates and sponges that came with my live rock, plus xmas tree worms and other filter feeders, so it's worth it to me. There were some studies that showed acropora "feeding" on phyto and possibly other corals as well.
Au- natural... swamp (pods rots artemia), cha. iso. tet
mescobar
Member
Neat!
I cultured phyto and pods a while back for a short time. It was a lot of fun to learn about biology and engineer a system. But man it was a lot of work and time; splitting cultures and doing water changes. A good majority of the time, my culture would crash following a split, likely something to do with my sanitary practices.
Biosecurity is a real thing and you gotta be careful not to contaminate your culture over time, otherwise everything will turn to nano. Tidal gardens had a great video on growing phyto (it was the urchin series). If I were to grow phyto again I would strongly consider getting an autoclave sterilizer this time around, as well as devising a similar system to filter the air going into the cultures. The equipment isn't cheap, how many successful cultures are needed to recoup the investment?
The other problem with growing phyto/pods - say you are successful, you will likely have more culture on hand than your tanks can realistically consume (unless you have a farm). What are you going to do with your excess? You could sell it, but now you've signed yourself up for even more work.
Overall, I think I have decided that growing phyto/pods is just too much work. My time is better spent doing other things, I'll just buy phyto/pods when I can. The hard part is getting a reliable and constant supply when you need it. With all that said, if you do grow phyto and need to offload culture, I'd still be happy to take it off your hands lol
I cultured phyto and pods a while back for a short time. It was a lot of fun to learn about biology and engineer a system. But man it was a lot of work and time; splitting cultures and doing water changes. A good majority of the time, my culture would crash following a split, likely something to do with my sanitary practices.
Biosecurity is a real thing and you gotta be careful not to contaminate your culture over time, otherwise everything will turn to nano. Tidal gardens had a great video on growing phyto (it was the urchin series). If I were to grow phyto again I would strongly consider getting an autoclave sterilizer this time around, as well as devising a similar system to filter the air going into the cultures. The equipment isn't cheap, how many successful cultures are needed to recoup the investment?
The other problem with growing phyto/pods - say you are successful, you will likely have more culture on hand than your tanks can realistically consume (unless you have a farm). What are you going to do with your excess? You could sell it, but now you've signed yourself up for even more work.
Overall, I think I have decided that growing phyto/pods is just too much work. My time is better spent doing other things, I'll just buy phyto/pods when I can. The hard part is getting a reliable and constant supply when you need it. With all that said, if you do grow phyto and need to offload culture, I'd still be happy to take it off your hands lol
I don't think you need a sterilizer unless you are a commercial level. Just use 70% IPA to rinse and clean, and you should be good.
I don't think I will do all that variations, but I would think either a simple tigger pod or bbs hatchery would be less work.
I don't think I will do all that variations, but I would think either a simple tigger pod or bbs hatchery would be less work.
mescobar
Member
Its not just about the grow jars. You got the rigid tubing, airline tubing, plugs and caps to worry about as well. Lot of points of contamination. If you aren't meticulous, don't be surprised if/when you have an unexplained crash.
If you're doing something like nano or tetra, they are much more hardy. Its a bit tougher to crash those strains. Also, I'd recommending doing tisbe pods, they are hardier than tigger and don't have as strict temperature requirements. They're also more commonly found in our tanks naturally (on the glass). But pods will eat almost anything, you don't even need to grow phyto if thats your goal. They could survive off of spirulina powder.
If you're doing something like nano or tetra, they are much more hardy. Its a bit tougher to crash those strains. Also, I'd recommending doing tisbe pods, they are hardier than tigger and don't have as strict temperature requirements. They're also more commonly found in our tanks naturally (on the glass). But pods will eat almost anything, you don't even need to grow phyto if thats your goal. They could survive off of spirulina powder.
I’m using the Poseidon Reef System setup (https://www.poseidonreefsystems.com/). Very easy to use to grow phytoplankton and copepods. I like it so much I picked up several used systems and now I’m running a total 7 of these tanks!
I have 3 tanks dedicated to phytoplankton and 4 tanks for copepods. I have 3 fishtanks and give my fish live food. I sell a little bit on the side, mostly to fund the hobby.
Been doing that for three/four months by now. Storage totes on back patio with air pump. Dosed with live phyto until the bottle ran out. Green stuff growing on bottom/sides plus slight tint to the water. They're thriving.
The only thing, seems their population may be self limiting. There's never anywhere close to the number of adult shrimps compared to how many nauplii were poured in. Even during daily dosing, it would seem the shrimps grow in size but go down in numbers week by week. Also not sure if they're laying the kind of eggs that hatch immediately vs the 'dormant' eggs that require a dry out phase before hatching. As in if expecting a constantly self-producing colony with high yield... not sure about that myself(yet).
I have the Ziss brine shrimp hatcheries. Pretty easy to use however if a lot of eggs don't hatch and sink(instead of float) it's tricky to drain without collecting too much of the eggs. And it's a slight chore to clean them out after every hatch. A simple rinse n wipe is okay but do that several times in a row without a good clean, the hatches can seem to decline plus the foul smell gets a bit stronger and shows quicker in a new batch. Also if daily supply is needed, best to have two-three hatcheries instead of just one.
Anything that eats little critters goes nuts over the live BBS.
p.s. I would suggest using a hatchery then transfer the nauplii rather than trying to hatch the eggs directly in the grow out setup. Especially if trying to hatch a lot at once. The concern is doing this may foul up the entire main setup..
The Ziss hatchery kit is super nice. For now, I'm 3D printing a couple brine hatchery dishes. It's super low maintenance. I'm going to just hatch the baby brine, and feed that straight into the tank. Maybe if I can success in that, I can move onto growing them into adults.
Do you have to top off on the totes with fresh water to keep salinity in check? And do you use the sunlight to grow algae in the tank?
Do you have to top off on the totes with fresh water to keep salinity in check? And do you use the sunlight to grow algae in the tank?
My first hatchery was one of those dishes. Worked well. Would be great to see some of your print outs.
The backyard is mostly covered so I went with a clear plastic tote with the idea of maximum light exposure. It gets direct sun exposure only for a hour at most in the mornings as shown in the picture.
It's a not-serious experiment so wanted to keep it simple as possible. No ATO... eyeballed where the water level is(use marker). The lid stays on- other part of the reason for going with clear plastic. Evaporation rate is extremely high for sure, it's a mini monsoon every time the lid is lifted. Haven't needed to add any water yet.
One reason for doing this is playing around with tub culture. Been thinking of tig pod culture as food for banggai cardinal fry.
The backyard is mostly covered so I went with a clear plastic tote with the idea of maximum light exposure. It gets direct sun exposure only for a hour at most in the mornings as shown in the picture.
It's a not-serious experiment so wanted to keep it simple as possible. No ATO... eyeballed where the water level is(use marker). The lid stays on- other part of the reason for going with clear plastic. Evaporation rate is extremely high for sure, it's a mini monsoon every time the lid is lifted. Haven't needed to add any water yet.
One reason for doing this is playing around with tub culture. Been thinking of tig pod culture as food for banggai cardinal fry.
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That's cool to see. It's great to see another reefer that does crazy science experiements.
I want to do an outdoor tig culture with a clear plastic tote, but wasn't sure about attracting mosquitos and how to refill the top off since my most likely spot is on my second floor balcony. But if you are saying you keep the cover on, that would be ideal. So all you need is an air pump. Do you need a heater since it is outdoors, and it can get cold in the winter months, and lots of temp swings from day to night?
For some reason, my 3D prints of the dish have failed....I'm on my 3rd try. Once I get some printed, I'll post photos. But I may buy the retail version because it is nicer and larger. I'm waiting for some eggs to be delivered next week.
I want to do an outdoor tig culture with a clear plastic tote, but wasn't sure about attracting mosquitos and how to refill the top off since my most likely spot is on my second floor balcony. But if you are saying you keep the cover on, that would be ideal. So all you need is an air pump. Do you need a heater since it is outdoors, and it can get cold in the winter months, and lots of temp swings from day to night?
For some reason, my 3D prints of the dish have failed....I'm on my 3rd try. Once I get some printed, I'll post photos. But I may buy the retail version because it is nicer and larger. I'm waiting for some eggs to be delivered next week.
