Bio-plankton vs DT's

[sduu]

I've been using DT's Live Marine Phytoplankton for the past 6mths. My reef tank is doing well with this food. Downside is that this product has a life span of 2-3mths off the shelve. So now I am trying out this BioPlankton product. Will give fellow reefers more info when the results shows.

[CKS]

Hi, are u a Singaporean?

How did u managed to get DT?

it must be costly to import it over here in icebox

[ep4546]

ya sduu how do u get the DT over???

[sduu]

Hi everyone, I got the DTs from premiumaquatics.com. its was ship to me via UPS within 3days for the date 1 order. I was told and assured by the tech sales Jason Frey to refrigerate the DTs once 1 received it. Not before opening up each bottles to check for any strong foul odor. So far so good been using 6 bottles already.

[harlequin]

Just bought a bottle of BioPlankton from Harlequin last week.

This product seems to be much better form as compared to DT or Phytoplex.

[TTBoy]

Is BioPlankton also "live"?

[TTBoy]

Just did some research on the net.

Apparently, the BioPlankton is not exactly "live" stuff. A number of reefers experienced hair algae growth when overfed since it will pollute your tank. The content in BioPlankton is 1/3 of tetraselmis, 1/3 nannochloropsis, and 1/3 t-isochrysis. This is the same as BrineShrimpDirect's Tahitian Blend which cost much much less. Positive thing is that BioPlankton has a longer shelf life compared with DT.

So how do u use this stuff? U just drip it into your tank or mix with tank water first?

[harlequin]

I use about 4 to 5 drops and mix it with tank's water and pour into tank.

Max i've used is 3 times a week. So far no hair algae, even though i don't really care about phosphate.

[TTBoy]

Hmm.. will probably also try it once i finish my present stock of phytoplankton. How much does it cost here?

[harlequin]

i think i paid about $28.

[sduu]

This Harlequin Shop really chop u big time!! Every thing its sells is ex.

[TTBoy]

This is strange, the BioPlankton sells for USD25.

There is only one size right?

How much did u pay for your BioPlankton sduu?

[harlequin]

Agree with TTBoy.

If not who else sells this product in Singapore ?

[sduu]

OK this supplier brought in only a very small amount for testing market only. I got mine for only $20.00. Its still early to say if this product is good or works, so give us more time to tryout and i'm sure me and harlequin will post our results for all to see. Right?

[harlequin]

So far after feeding, i can see my cateye really open up bigger with all the tentacles stretching out another inch.

After reading some of the posts at reefcentral, i've cut down a fair bit just in case hair algae breaks out.

[Achilles Tang]

Just a word of caution: dead plankton products need to be kept refrigerated or even in the freezer to retain their nutritional values as exposure will cause decay and lost of nutrition.

They also have a short shelf life and are generally very expensive.

The bottled 'coral food' you buy should be researched as some of the products have been lab-tested and are found to be mostly water and yeast! They do make some corals exhibit a feeding response but don't supply much nutrition.

I recommend Instant Algae as it is close to live phyto in nutritional values but you cannot overfeed! DTs also.

If you have the time/effort, culturing live phtyoplankton would be much cheaper in the long run and much much more nutritious and beneficial for your reef tank.

[sduu]

Thanks AT. appreciate your advice. I will do more research on this issued. Until Phtyoplankton Culturing is within my reach, guess i have to stick to bottles at the moments

[dodo]

I recommend Instant Algae as it is close to live phyto in nutritional values but you cannot overfeed! DTs also.

wea can we get Instant Algae? sold locally?

[dfstan]

so i need to switch off my skimmer when dripping DT into my tank?

[corrado]

Hi all

For your info, T-iso needs to be stored in ultra low temp

freezer at a temp far below the coldest setting of a household

freezer to prevent rapid nutritional loss.

Bioplankton is fundamentally sourced from Reed Mariculture aka Instant Algae.

Harle was pushing to me days ago.

The best is still self-culture/variety feeding.