Copepods, Fertilisers And Phytoplankton

[jonnyf84]

Hi all, can someone tell me a good combination of fertilisers and liquids to add to my tank, theres so many different ones out there i don't know where to start or which ones are best, is there a all-in-one that includes all the trace elements and iodine, calcium etc?

Also how much if any phytoplankton should i add and also what amount of copepods if any? I'm thinking it would be useful to add all these things even though i only have low stock due to it been a new aquarium.

Its a 125L with a few large mushrooms and polyps, 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 sand sifter, the rock has a good sized colony of brittle stars, my substarte is coral sand - not live yet.

 

[nick87]

Hi all, can someone tell me a good combination of fertilisers and liquids to add to my tank, theres so many different ones out there i don't know where to start or which ones are best, is there a all-in-one that includes all the trace elements and iodine, calcium etc?

Reqular water changes should keep out with all trace elements and calcium, unless you have a lot of sps.

Also how much if any phytoplankton should i add and also what amount of copepods if any? I'm thinking it would be useful to add all these things even though i only have low stock due to it been a new aquarium.

Its a 125L with a few large mushrooms and polyps, 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 sand sifter, the rock has a good sized colony of brittle stars, my substarte is coral sand - not live yet.

IMO there is no need to add anything to the tank, the pods will populate the tank by themselves, you could add a small amount of phyto but it's really not needed.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Agree with the above. With regular water changes you will not need to worry about adding anything (in terms of calc, mag, etc) unless the tank is jam packed with corals (particularly SPS).

Regarding pods and phyto. If you can be bothered then culturing pods outside of the tank and regularly adding more to the tank will be a benefit. Most fish will eat pods so its good to have a big supply of them on hand. They also work quite well as cuc getting all the little bits of left overs from inside the rockwork.

Phyto you don't need to dose. I know a lot of people that do though and they say they get a lot of life in the tank after doing it for awhile (more sponges, filter feeders and pods). How much you dose depends on how concentrated your phyto is, how big the tank is and how good your filtration is. You have to be careful as overdosing phyto can quickly foul up your water.