I read an interesting article yesterday - what do you think

[jacksonpt]

I was researching anemones yesterday and stumbled across an interesting article. The article was on a board that had vendor links, so I can't post the article, but here's the jist of it... let me know what you think.
paraphrasing here...
Anemones are animals, and just like any other animal, they need nutrition to survive. Most people think that means intense lighting and occasional feedings. While that will certainly work, the key is nutrition. In theory, if you could provide the anemone with enough nutrition, it would survive and thrive on very minimal lighting. For example, if you were to feed an anemone correctly (i.e. good food and lots of it), it would be perfectly happy under NO lighting. The reason people often need intense lighting to keep anemones is because they don't feed the anemone enough.
What do you all think? It sounds good in theory, but in practicality???

 

[twoods71]

Not sure about anemones but a while back I read an article from julian sprung saying that while visiting an open system aquarium many corals where doing fantastic under minimal lighting.
The key here is the open system where fresh water from the ocean is constantly being pumped in.
The corals at this aquarium are getting most of there nutricion from sources other then zooxanthellae.

 

[jacksonpt]

yea... basically the same idea... that animals can survive with minimal light providing that they are getting enough nutrition from other sources.

 

[jagster]

I think this is a new approach that is coming into the hobby. I've read the same about coral - they need to be fed. They do need light, but they are animals that also require lots of food. In a closed system this can be problematical since excess food can polute the water, etc. But if you have a good, natural filtering system it is possible. For the past two months I nave been feeding my tank twice/day with considerable amounts of food. I vary between Marine Snow, zooplankton, phytoplankton, etc. My nitrates and phosphates remain at ZERO, no algae!! My corals, live rock, etc. look better than ever. So I guess I've become a disciple of food and light!