Feed Phytoplankton... or not?

[johnd4g]

I recently added some beautiful Liverocks.com live rock to my formerly fish only tank and I want to encourage the growth of feather dusters, bi-valves, corals, etc that live on the rock. Should I start adding phytoplankton to the tank to feed these critters? I found a site (dtplankton.com) that sells live marine phytoplankton for the home aquarium. Are there any negative affects to doing this? Should I turn off the equipment at feeding time to prevent the phytoplankton from getting sucked into the filter, skimmer, or powerhead? Or, is this not a problem?
Once again..... thanks for any advice!

 

[fishfreek]

At this point I wouldnt add phyto to your tank. If added incorrectly (ie to much) you can cause water quality issues and with out anything in the tank to really use up the phyto you could quickly end up with a 'green' tank due to a phyto explosion.

 

[johnd4g]

So then what should I do to help the feather dusters, etc to survive? Don't they need to feed off of something?

 

[fishfreek]

They are filter feeders. One issue with phyto is that its a very potent food. Not many foods come with a warning to not dump down your drain, Phyto does. There are some less potent invert feeders out there on the market and in all honesty the dusters that come on the rock wont need any direct feeding. They will pull nurents out of the water from excess food, fish waste, free floating algae, etc.

The food that they eat is invisable to the eye.

 

[johnd4g]

Oh! OK... cool. One thing less to buy.
Thanks!