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Phytoplankton vs. Microplankton


zoobers

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So i recently got some hammer and trumpet coral. Did a lil research to make sure all the info in my head about lighting and placement was accurate. Then came across some sites that said that they might benefit from the occasional feeding of microplankton. I was wondering what the difference between micro and phytoplankton is? The reason being i have a bottle of kent phytoplankton already.

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phyto- is photosynthetic plankton, e.g. microalgae, diatoms, etc.

 

zooplankton is heterotrophic plankton, i.e. the meaty-type. :P

 

those are the two basic types (plus bacterioplankton and smaller picoplankton/viruses).

 

micro- is merely a designation of size. there's macroplankton, nanoplankton, picoplankton, and other sizes. some micro- can be either types. the really small sizes are pretty much reserved for the bacterio- stuff.

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Thanks for clearing that up! makes a lot more sense now. I had totally forgotten about zooplankton. So do corals (i have hammers, candycane/trumpets, mushrooms, and zoas) tend to eat phytoplankton or zooplankton? I'd hate to try and feed them the wrong stuff and just end up adding excess nutrients into the system.

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phyto- is photosynthetic plankton, e.g. microalgae, diatoms, etc.

 

zooplankton is heterotrophic plankton, i.e. the meaty-type. :P

 

those are the two basic types (plus bacterioplankton and smaller picoplankton/viruses).

 

micro- is merely a designation of size. there's macroplankton, nanoplankton, picoplankton, and other sizes. some micro- can be either types. the really small sizes are pretty much reserved for the bacterio- stuff.

I personally Like the Megaplankton. (but only when you say it slowly in a low monotone voice) :D

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankton#Size_groups

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooplankton

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Most corals do not have much of a taste for phytoplankton (with the exception of many gorgonians), preferring the more nutritional zooplankton

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