Darn Curt you did that right in the middle of a long post reply you dirty dog, lol
Yea Travis I knew I wasnt going to live that one down. lol
Curt this could be a long one, lol.
Feeding live phyo in place of dead is always a better idea, the dead will begin to be reduced as soon as they hit the water through bacterial action (rotting). so yep live is better. But I think you really have to seperate these feeding habbits and requirements becuase most things dont touch phyto.
Phytoplankton are required by filter feeders such as tube worms, some sponges, some gorgonians, some types of clams, and a few corals in the dendro and nepthia familiy. So lets stay with Phytoplankton for a bit. Thier are many types of phytoplankton (90% of all marine plants are phytoplankton) and they come in a wide warty of sizes and strains (Nannochloris, Isochrysis, Tetraselmis, among others). now this makes a big difference as certian things will only eat certian type/strains/sizes of phyto. So when buying or trying to culture you must make sure you have a wide varity of types so you cover your bases. An example would be a popular product (DT's Phytoplankton). ALthough it has a decent shelf life and has tested well for live, it is made using only one type of phyto (Nanochloropsis species) so although it maybe introducing a live phyto population into your tank it may even not be used by those that consume phyto.That and under good conditions in our reef tanks a phytoplankton will only live for about a day at best.(Fabricus et al 1995,Sorokin, Y.I. (1995): Coral Reef Ecology, 2nd Edition, Springer Verlag, New York, USA. for those that may want reference).
So in the world of feeding phyto its not as easy a most would think when it comes down to it. So lets take a look at what a Phyto plankton is made of. Phyto are made of mainly nitrogen and phosphorous compounds and iron also. So if we relate it to our animals that we are trying to feed we can see why they want it...main for it nitrogen and phosphorous.
If one stands back and looks at all this put to together. Am I feeding the right or the correct ammount of differing phytoplankon, Is it live or dead. What impact does it have on my water quality, Am I really just adding phosphate and nitrogen to my tank, If all I am adding is phosphate and nitrogen to the tank is thier n0t an easier way of doing this that all coraals and critters can use it.
Anyway I ramble. So thier is a bit of how I look at it. Please join in and fill in some of the gaps.
Mike