Phyto In A Tube

     Chris is always for new tank projects despite my protests. He had been talking about cultivating phytoplankton for years and since last Christmas, had been begging for a phytoplankton reactor. 

photo courtesy of reefbuilders.com

     I told him to make one out of bottles like most reefers do.

photo courtesy of reefcentral.com

     Instead, we are at our friend Kyles house one day and he sees an old homemade kalk stirrer that was sitting at the curb to be pick up by the garbage man and decides to bring it home for the tank instead. Sure! Why the fuck not?! 

     Plankton acts as a food source to countless species of corals and invertebrates and even larger animals as well. Every reefer has bought DT's at one time or another and knows how beneficial it is to their livestock (and how expensive it is). However, I know another project will only lead to more projects.

     Doesn't matter, he sets it up. 

     And a strange light emits from the basement as you descend down the stairs. 

     Day two and it starts to turn a shade of green.

     And before long it's even greener.

     A few more days and he's bottling them up and storing them in the fridge. 

     And wouldn't you know it, I was right! Another project soon followed. Tisbe pods are being bred and fed to the tank daily as well. We also give them to the members of the club and trade them with a local fish store too. It wasn't long that I was making labels for the bottles. 

     We even have labels for the phyto now too. 

     I find it kind of cute sometimes when he asks me to come downstairs to see how green the phyto is this particular day. It's green, very green. He talks about leaving it for another day to have it get a little greener sometimes. It was of course trial and error in the beginning. Now we have gallons of the stuff and are looking forward to the next club meeting to include a bunch of it in the club raffle. Our corals are very happy as well as all the pods we are breeding now. 

     Until next time, stay green!!