Aquarium Keepers: Introducing Micro Marine Maintenance, A Live Trophic Boost for Your Reef Tank’s Foundation

Reef aquariums thrive on balance, and that balance starts at the very base of the food web. “Micro Marine Maintenance” is a curated, live community of miniature(mostly smaller than the eye can see) organisms, designed to reinforce your tank’s foundational trophic layers, providing a self-sustaining suite of microalgae, grazers, and micropredators that support long-term ecosystem health.

What Is Micro Marine Maintenance?

At its core, Micro Marine Maintenance is a dynamic community composed of a combination of organisms from the following three basal marine trophic levels:

Microalgae(Primary Producers)

• Nannochloropsis oculata

• Tetraselmis chuii

• Isochrysis galbana

• Porphyridium cruentum

These phytoplankton species are not only high in essential fatty acids and pigments but also differ in size and motility, increasing the chances of niche compatibility with a range of filter feeders and larval stages. The phytoplankton's rapid growth, fueled by the uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, and dissolved organic matter, not only provides a consistent food source for the entire food chain, but also aids in nutrient management within the system.

Grazers(Primary Consumers)

• Euplotes sp. (ciliates)

• Brachionus sp. (rotifers)
  These serve as a critical intermediate link between the algae and higher-level consumers. Rotifers and ciliates directly feed on the phytoplankton, detritus, and other particulate organic matter, rapidly multiplying in well-fed systems and serving as a ready food source for both corals and microcrustaceans.

Micropredators(Secondary Consumers)

• Tigriopus sp.

• Tisbe sp.

• Apocyclops sp.
  

These harpacticoid and cyclopoid copepods contribute to nutrient cycling and provide enrichment for fish and invertebrates that graze the rock and substrate. They also prey on smaller plankton(both phyto- and zoo-) and detritus, supporting both top-down control and detritivore function.

Why Introduce a Live Microbial Food Web?

Modern reef tanks tend to focus on larger livestock and corals, often at the expense of the unseen infrastructure that keeps them thriving. Over time, the biodiversity of a reef system can suffer losses and become degraded, in an unfortunate feedback loop that both causes and is caused by nutrient imbalances and low microfaunal diversity, meaning poor resilience of the miniature reef ecosystem as a whole.

By inoculating your system with Micro Marine Maintenance, you:

• Establish a self-perpetuating, multi-tiered food web

• Support the health and development of filter feeders and larval organisms

• Promote biofilm competition that can limit nuisance algae

• Increase grazing pressure on suspended organics and detritus

• Improve the nutritional availability of live food for picky eaters

Application and Care

Micro Marine Maintenance can be dosed directly into display tanks or refugia. For best results, introduce into systems with stable parameters and adequate surface area (such as macroalgae beds, cryptic zones, or coarse substrate) for microcrustacean colonization. Regular low-level phytoplankton dosing(available standalone) can help maintain populations.

This living system will continue to grow and thrive in your tank with minimal effort, quietly working behind the scenes to keep your reef cleaner, healthier, and more ecologically complete. 

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