Jamie S
NJRC Member
I came across this build thread last week and it got me thinking. For people who like to dose Phyto daily, how simple it seems to automate it? The author used this technique to dose the Phyto for 2 consecutive years without crashing his culture. Similar premise to a kalk reactor, he added the light source to the reactor and through a dosing pump would add Xml of fresh saltwater (depending on the amount of Phyto you dose into the tank) into the Phyto reactor and it would gravity feed the Phyto into the tank. He put an air stone with k1 micro media (I had to look up what that was) to keep the Phyto suspended. Each week he would add 2ml of fertilizer to the culture to keep it fed. Aside from that he would just need a saltwater reservoir filled to dose into the Phyto reactor.
I have an extra DOS head and a Kalk stirrer that is not being used and I feel it would be perfect for this application as all I have to do is add a strip light around it, put an air stone and k1 media in it and bingo, it’s now an automated Phyto reactor. There are obviously less expensive ways to do this than an avast marine kalk reactor but I’m not using it so might as well put it to good use. I would be modifying the author’s build a bit. He used a dosing pump to pump saltwater into the reactor and another dosing pump to simultaneously pump the Phyto out of the reactor and into the sump. Instead of pumping it out of the reactor I would let it gravity feed into the sump. Curious as to what the community thinks of this? I linked the thread to better explain the method.
www.reef2reef.com
I have an extra DOS head and a Kalk stirrer that is not being used and I feel it would be perfect for this application as all I have to do is add a strip light around it, put an air stone and k1 media in it and bingo, it’s now an automated Phyto reactor. There are obviously less expensive ways to do this than an avast marine kalk reactor but I’m not using it so might as well put it to good use. I would be modifying the author’s build a bit. He used a dosing pump to pump saltwater into the reactor and another dosing pump to simultaneously pump the Phyto out of the reactor and into the sump. Instead of pumping it out of the reactor I would let it gravity feed into the sump. Curious as to what the community thinks of this? I linked the thread to better explain the method.
How to automate a phytoplankton culture
Giving that we love tech and use any excuse to reduce labour in our tanks I will give you below the diagram to automate a phytoplankton culture. There’s no need to split cultures weekly, just set it up and forget it. It’s really simple and it worked for me for two consecutive years without...
www.reef2reef.com
