reefkprz
Active Member
Nutrients: import export, the unbalanced scale
Welcome to another edition of random reefkeeping. Its been a while since I bothered hashing out any thoughts and laying into my keyboard with vigor, but recentley a couple conversations about skimming, food supply, and what to do with the leftovers have brought the import export balance to the forefront of my thoughts often (and again and again. No I have not looked back at my previous rants to see if I have attacked this monster of a subject, nor will I. Those who dwell in the past are blind to both the present and future{I have no idea who I just quoted here but I heard it somewhere and it made sense}).
Anyone who has kept Reef Tanks and FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tanks long term are familiar with what happens with an over abundance of nutrients, various plauge algaes, poor light penetration, reduced coral growth, reduced fish health leading to other problems such as disease, increased susceptability to some parasites, and an overall unhealthy tank. Much to our dismay its far easier to add nutrients than to remove them. In some cases ceartain foods are so ill suited to use in our tanks that despite the magic marketing claims by their creators they are little more than pollution, with very little utility. Some amazing marketing has many hobbyests using stuff that shouldnt get within a mile of a tank, such as warm shelf phyto, and dry flake/pellet foods. The warm phyto is mearly dead phyto begun to rot..... {awesome addition}. Flake/pellet food no matter how good they claim to be or how they are proccessed are unfortunatly a source of nitrates and phosphates, more so than properly prepared and properly served frozen food.
The crux: how to provide the food in a nutritious form in the amounts found in the natural habitats and provide the same level of export. A nearly impossible task many have found with their set ups and maintinence rituals.
So we go lean on feedings to make the export requirements lower, for example people feeding every other day. This is far from natural, in fact it couldnt be much further from natural, as most of our captives in the wild feed constantly throughout the day, not in one heavy feeding every now and then (with a few exceptions I am sure). in fact even these sparse feedings when done in a heavy amount can be counter productive as all the food may nopt be consumed by the target and go on to break down in our tanks. Fortunatly there are many scavangers and other benthic life forms that can utilize some of this, if the proper areas have been designed into the system (or even happenstanced into the system) for them to grow.
Another sign of the under fed aquaria is the ever present myth "that coral just needs light, it doesnt need food" almost all corals feed organismally. While its true that many survive and flourish without "spot" feeding, and in fact dont require it, they still require food, this is nearly undisputable. To the best of my knowledge there are no completely photosynthetic corals, the closest would probably be xenia. I believe even these absorb nitrates when growing. I say nearly undisputable because I do not feel I know the requirements of every coral, in fact I am quite aware that my knowledge of various coral requirements are severely lacking, much to my dismay.
We all know there are many many forms of filtration and combinations thereof that can be created and designed into a system. Most long time hobbyests get sent catalogs full of stuff that should we spend the money could be attached to, hooked on, hung on, gravity fed, or otherwise integrated into our systems. The plethora of crap marketed to the unwary (and the wary) can cause a person to spend needless dollars costing them a small fortune, trying to do the right thing for their tank but through a lack of solid knowledge does the almost right thing or the most pushed item at the LFS (local fish store), and as they learn more the spend more going in a direction they feel is better. Depending on the size of your personal fortune this can lead you away from a very rewarding hobby (my personal fortune at present is about seventeen dollars and fifty eight cents, not that you needed to know that but you dont have to be rich to enjoy this hobby.)
Welcome to another edition of random reefkeeping. Its been a while since I bothered hashing out any thoughts and laying into my keyboard with vigor, but recentley a couple conversations about skimming, food supply, and what to do with the leftovers have brought the import export balance to the forefront of my thoughts often (and again and again. No I have not looked back at my previous rants to see if I have attacked this monster of a subject, nor will I. Those who dwell in the past are blind to both the present and future{I have no idea who I just quoted here but I heard it somewhere and it made sense}).
Anyone who has kept Reef Tanks and FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tanks long term are familiar with what happens with an over abundance of nutrients, various plauge algaes, poor light penetration, reduced coral growth, reduced fish health leading to other problems such as disease, increased susceptability to some parasites, and an overall unhealthy tank. Much to our dismay its far easier to add nutrients than to remove them. In some cases ceartain foods are so ill suited to use in our tanks that despite the magic marketing claims by their creators they are little more than pollution, with very little utility. Some amazing marketing has many hobbyests using stuff that shouldnt get within a mile of a tank, such as warm shelf phyto, and dry flake/pellet foods. The warm phyto is mearly dead phyto begun to rot..... {awesome addition}. Flake/pellet food no matter how good they claim to be or how they are proccessed are unfortunatly a source of nitrates and phosphates, more so than properly prepared and properly served frozen food.
The crux: how to provide the food in a nutritious form in the amounts found in the natural habitats and provide the same level of export. A nearly impossible task many have found with their set ups and maintinence rituals.
So we go lean on feedings to make the export requirements lower, for example people feeding every other day. This is far from natural, in fact it couldnt be much further from natural, as most of our captives in the wild feed constantly throughout the day, not in one heavy feeding every now and then (with a few exceptions I am sure). in fact even these sparse feedings when done in a heavy amount can be counter productive as all the food may nopt be consumed by the target and go on to break down in our tanks. Fortunatly there are many scavangers and other benthic life forms that can utilize some of this, if the proper areas have been designed into the system (or even happenstanced into the system) for them to grow.
Another sign of the under fed aquaria is the ever present myth "that coral just needs light, it doesnt need food" almost all corals feed organismally. While its true that many survive and flourish without "spot" feeding, and in fact dont require it, they still require food, this is nearly undisputable. To the best of my knowledge there are no completely photosynthetic corals, the closest would probably be xenia. I believe even these absorb nitrates when growing. I say nearly undisputable because I do not feel I know the requirements of every coral, in fact I am quite aware that my knowledge of various coral requirements are severely lacking, much to my dismay.
We all know there are many many forms of filtration and combinations thereof that can be created and designed into a system. Most long time hobbyests get sent catalogs full of stuff that should we spend the money could be attached to, hooked on, hung on, gravity fed, or otherwise integrated into our systems. The plethora of crap marketed to the unwary (and the wary) can cause a person to spend needless dollars costing them a small fortune, trying to do the right thing for their tank but through a lack of solid knowledge does the almost right thing or the most pushed item at the LFS (local fish store), and as they learn more the spend more going in a direction they feel is better. Depending on the size of your personal fortune this can lead you away from a very rewarding hobby (my personal fortune at present is about seventeen dollars and fifty eight cents, not that you needed to know that but you dont have to be rich to enjoy this hobby.)