My plastic media floats on top of my sump in a large mesh bag. I pump low CO2 air in through a skimmer pump underneath. This air percolates up through the media. This effectively fractionates the skimmable portion and delivers it to the floating media for digestion. For the first week or 10 days there's a small foam head visible in the sump, then nothing, as my evidence of effectiveness. I call it an upside down trickle filter, lol.
Similar to a pond filter as far as the floating media?
NO offense - what what the point - you posted perhaps 50 pages of reading - can you perhaps condense your thoughts? Its kind of like saying 'google the answer' - and than the poster has to read 50 articles?The picture is a lot more complicated than just ammonia and nitrates which are different forms of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN). All the organisms in our systems are also dealing with Dissolved Organic Nitrogen (DON) and Particulate Organic Nitrogen (PON). And since DOC (aka carbon dosing) has been mentioned how it affects the many microbiomes in our system adds probably several more orders of complexity.
Here's a data bomb for those interested in looking at the research. For those who don't want to go down the various rabbit holes what I've learned in 4 decades of keeping reefs systems is do your water changes, use urchins and herbivorus hermits and manual removal for any nuisance algae and keep an eye on alkalinity, calcium and magnesium and adjust what is being fed and done for the growth seen.
Nitrogen Stuff
Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont
Ammonium Uptake by Symbiotic and Aposymbiotic Reef Corals
Ammonium Uptake by Symbiotic and Aposymbiotic Reef Corals: Ingenta Connect
www.ingentaconnect.com
Amino acids a source of nitrogen for corals
Uptake of dissolved free amino acids by the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata
SUMMARY. This study was designed to assess the importance of dissolved free amino acids (DFAA) as a nitrogen source for the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata. For this purpose, experiments were performed using 15N-enriched DFAAs, and %15N enrichment was measured both in animal tissue and...journals.biologists.com
Urea a source of nitrogen for corals
Urea uptake by the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata
Urea can be one of the major sources of nitrogen for phytoplankton, but little is known about its importance for corals. Experiments were therefore de…www.sciencedirect.com
Diazotrpophs a source of nitrogen for corals
Diazotrophs: a non-negligible source of nitrogen for the tropical coral Stylophora pistillata - PubMed
Corals are mixotrophs: they are able to fix inorganic carbon through the activity of their symbiotic dinoflagellates and to gain nitrogen from predation on plankton and uptake of dissolved organic and inorganic nutrients. They also live in close association with diverse diazotrophic communities...pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Context Dependant Effects of Nutrient Loading on the Coral-Algal Mutualism
Context-dependent effects of nutrient loading on the coral-algal mutualism | Request PDF
Request PDF | Context-dependent effects of nutrient loading on the coral-algal mutualism | Human-mediated increases in nutrient availability alter patterns of primary production, impact species diversity, and threaten ecosystem function.... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on...www.researchgate.net
Nutrient transfer in a marine mutualism: patterns of ammonia excretion by anemonefish and uptake by giant sea anemones
Nutrient transfer in a marine mutualism: patterns of ammonia excretion by anemonefish and uptake by giant sea anemones - Marine Biology
Many symbioses involve multiple partners in complex, multi-level associations, yet little is known concerning patterns of nutrient transfer in multi-level marine mutualisms. We used the anemonefish symbiosis as a model system to create a balance sheet for nitrogen production and transfer within...link.springer.com
Sugar enrichment provides evidence for a role of nitrogen fixation in coral bleaching
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onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Prevalence of potential nitrogen-fixing, green sulfur bacteria in the skeleton of reef-building coral Isopora palifera
Functional significance of dinitrogen fixation in sustaining coral productivity under oligotrophic conditions
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26511052/
Sponge Loop Conserves resources in Coral Reefs (recycles C and N)
(PDF) 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop
PDF | On Jun 23, 2015, Jasper M de Goeij and others published 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate
Carbon Stuff
DOC can be roughly seperated into three catagories, Labile, Semirefractory and Refractory. Most of the following papaers are looking mainly at Labile DOC. This will raise the hackles on some reefers but keep in mind Labile DOC and Carbon Dosing are synonamous. Jasper deGeoij's work shows cryptic sponges remove labile DOC about a thousand times faster than bacterioplankton. Included are links to some of the research showing what cryptic sponges are doing as well. ROhwer's book and video are excellent introductions to the subject of DOC and microbeial processses.
"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems
Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)
Global microbialization of coral reefs (Rohwer's DDAM Theory Proven)
Global microbialization of coral reefs - Nature Microbiology
Analysis of 60 sites in three ocean basins suggests that overgrowth of fleshy algae on coral reefs supports higher microbial abundances dominated by copiotrophic, potentially pathogenic bacteria via the provision of dissolved inorganic carbon.www.nature.com
long-term stony coral survival in the Coral Reef Exhibit at Reef HQ Aquarium, Townsville, Australia with an ATS was measured in days, not years. (See figure 3) (This page may have been removed, I can send you a copy of the .PDF if you're interested)
Something went wrong | Royal Burgers' Zoo
www.burgerszoo.com
Indirect effects of algae on coral: algae‐mediated, microbe‐induced coral mortality
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Influence of coral and algal exudates on microbially mediated reef metabolism.
Coral DOC improves oxygen (autotrophy), algae DOC reduces oxygen (heterotrophy).
Influence of coral and algal exudates on microbially mediated reef metabolism
Benthic primary producers in tropical reef ecosystems can alter biogeochemical cycling and microbial processes in the surrounding seawater. In order to quantify these influences, we measured rates of photosynthesis, respiration, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exudate release by the dominant...peerj.com
Role of elevated organic carbon levels and microbial activity in coral mortality
Effects of Coral Reef Benthic Primary Producers on Dissolved Organic Carbon and Microbial Activity
Algae releases significantly more DOC into the water than coral.
Effects of Coral Reef Benthic Primary Producers on Dissolved Organic Carbon and Microbial Activity
Benthic primary producers in marine ecosystems may significantly alter biogeochemical cycling and microbial processes in their surrounding environment. To examine these interactions, we studied dissolved organic matter release by dominant benthic taxa and subsequent microbial remineralization in...journals.plos.org
Pathologies and mortality rates caused by organic carbon and nutrient stressors in three Caribbean coral species.
DOC caused coral death but not high nitrates, phosphates or ammonium.
Visualization of oxygen distribution patterns caused by coral and algae
Visualization of oxygen distribution patterns caused by coral and algae
Planar optodes were used to visualize oxygen distribution patterns associated with a coral reef associated green algae (Chaetomorpha sp.) and a hermatypic coral (Favia sp.) separately, as standalone organisms, and placed in close proximity mimicking coral-algal interactions. Oxygen patterns were...
Biological oxygen demand optode analysis of coral reef-associated microbial communities exposed to algal exudates
Exposure to exudates derived from turf algae stimulated higher oxygen drawdown by the coral-associated bacteria.
Biological oxygen demand optode analysis of coral reef-associated microbial communities exposed to algal exudates
Algae-derived dissolved organic matter has been hypothesized to induce mortality of reef building corals. One proposed killing mechanism is a zone of hypoxia created by rapidly growing microbes. To investigate this hypothesis, biological oxygen demand ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Microbial ecology: Algae feed a shift on coral reefs
Microbial ecology: Algae feed a shift on coral reefs - Nature Microbiology
Human pressures on coral reefs are giving macroalgae a competitive advantage over reef-building corals. These algae support larger, and potentially pathogenic, microbial populations that are metabolically primed for less-efficient, yet faster, carbohydrate remineralization, perpetuating a...
Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages.
Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages - PubMed
Increasing algal cover on tropical reefs worldwide may be maintained through feedbacks whereby algae outcompete coral by altering microbial activity. We hypothesized that algae and coral release compositionally distinct exudates that differentially alter bacterioplankton growth and community...
Sugar enrichment provides evidence for a role of nitrogen fixation in coral bleaching
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Elevated ammonium delays the impairment of the coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis during labile carbon pollution
(here's an argument for maintaining heavy fish loads if you're carbon dosing)
Elevated ammonium delays the impairment of the coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis during labile carbon pollution
Labile dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a major pollutant in coastal marine environments affected by anthropogenic impacts, and may significantly con…
Excess labile carbon promotes the expression of virulence factors in coral reef bacterioplankton
Excess labile carbon promotes the expression of virulence factors in coral reef bacterioplankton - The ISME Journal
Coastal pollution and algal cover are increasing on many coral reefs, resulting in higher dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. High DOC concentrations strongly affect microbial activity in reef waters and select for copiotrophic, often potentially virulent microbial populations. High...
Unseen players shape benthic competition on coral reefs.
Unseen players shape benthic competition on coral reefs - PubMed
Recent work has shown that hydrophilic and hydrophobic organic matter (OM) from algae disrupts the function of the coral holobiont and promotes the invasion of opportunistic pathogens, leading to coral morbidity and mortality. Here we refer to these dynamics as the (3)DAM [dissolved organic...
Allelochemicals Produced by Brown Macroalgae of the Lobophora Genus Are Active against Coral Larvae and Associated Bacteria, Supporting Pathogenic Shifts to Vibrio Dominance.
Allelochemicals Produced by Brown Macroalgae of the Lobophora Genus Are Active against Coral Larvae and Associated Bacteria, Supporting Pathogenic Shifts to Vibrio Dominance - PubMed
Diverse microbial communities associate with coral tissues and mucus, providing important protective and nutritional services, but once disturbed, the microbial equilibrium may shift from a beneficial state to one that is detrimental or pathogenic. Macroalgae (e.g., seaweeds) can physically and...
Macroalgae decrease growth and alter microbial community structure of the reef-building coral, Porites astreoides.
Macroalgae decrease growth and alter microbial community structure of the reef-building coral, Porites astreoides - PubMed
With the continued and unprecedented decline of coral reefs worldwide, evaluating the factors that contribute to coral demise is of critical importance. As coral cover declines, macroalgae are becoming more common on tropical reefs. Interactions between these macroalgae and corals may alter the...
Macroalgal extracts induce bacterial assemblage shifts and sublethal tissue stress in Caribbean corals.
Macroalgal extracts induce bacterial assemblage shifts and sublethal tissue stress in Caribbean corals - PubMed
Benthic macroalgae can be abundant on present-day coral reefs, especially where rates of herbivory are low and/or dissolved nutrients are high. This study investigated the impact of macroalgal extracts on both coral-associated bacterial assemblages and sublethal stress response of corals. Crude...
Biophysical and physiological processes causing oxygen loss from coral reefs.
Global microbialization of coral reefs
DDAM Proven
Global microbialization of coral reefs - Nature Microbiology
Analysis of 60 sites in three ocean basins suggests that overgrowth of fleshy algae on coral reefs supports higher microbial abundances dominated by copiotrophic, potentially pathogenic bacteria via the provision of dissolved inorganic carbon.
Coral Reef Microorganisms in a Changing Climate, Fig 3
Coral Reef Microorganisms in a Changing Climate
Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on the planet, yet they have suffered tremendous losses due to anthropogenic disturbances and are predicted to be one of the most adversely affected habitats under future climate change ...
Ecosystem Microbiology of Coral Reefs: Linking Genomic, Metabolomic, and Biogeochemical Dynamics from Animal Symbioses to Reefscape Processes
Sponge Stuff
BActeria and Sponges
lement cycling on tropical coral reefs.
This is Jasper de Geoij's ground breaking research on reef sponge finding some species process labile DOC 1000X faster than bacterioplankton. (The introduction is in Dutch but the content is in English.)
Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle
Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle
Marine sponges are ubiquitous colonizers of shallow, clear-water environments in the oceans (1, 2). Sponges have emerged as significant mediators of biogeochemical fluxes in coastal zones by virtue of respiring organic matter and facilitating both the consumption and release of nutrients (3, 4)...www.pnas.org
Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges
Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges
Coral reefs are highly productive ecosystems that raise a conundrum called “Darwin’s paradox”: How can high production flourish in low-nutrient conditions? We show here that in three abundant Caribbean sponges, the granules that have been commonly observed in sponge tissue for decades are...
Differential recycling of coral and algal dissolved organic matter via the sponge loop.
Sponges treat DOC from algae differently than DOC from corals
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besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A Vicious Circle? Altered Carbon and Nutrient Cycling May Explain the Low Resilience of Caribbean Coral Reefs
Vicious Circle? Altered Carbon and Nutrient Cycling May Explain the Low Resilience of Caribbean Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are economically important ecosystems that have suffered unprecedented losses of corals in the recent past. Why have Caribbean reefs in particular tacademic.oup.com
Surviving in a Marine Desert The Sponge Loop Retains Resources Within Coral Reefs
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen are quickly processed by sponges and released back into the reef food web in hours as carbon and nitrogen rich detritus.
(PDF) 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop
PDF | On Jun 23, 2015, Jasper M de Goeij and others published 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate
Natural Diet of Coral-Excavating Sponges Consists Mainly of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)
Natural Diet of Coral-Excavating Sponges Consists Mainly of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)
Coral-excavating sponges are the most important bioeroders on Caribbean reefs and increase in abundance throughout the region. This increase is commonly attributed to a concomitant increase in food availability due to eutrophication and pollution. We ...
The Role of Marine Sponges in Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles of COral Reefs and Nearshore Environments.
The role of marine sponges in carbon and nitrogen cycles of coral reef and nearshore environments - ProQuest
Explore millions of resources from scholarly journals, books, newspapers, videos and more, on the ProQuest Platform.search.proquest.com
It’s hard to understand what’s he’s thought, he mentioned DIN and PON that are just ammonia sources although he doesn’t elaborate on it.
This would explain why a fuge IS able to out compete algae. It makes more sense now. And the same true in freshwater planted systems. You can have vibrant plants or corals (which depend on N) while having little to no algae (which is somehow unable to utilize N if there is sufficient plant or coral growth), so long as the desirable organisms have the edge on AMMONIA. In freshwater, CO2 for example gives an edge. In saltwater, I guess it is the carbohydrates that create this edge? Or perhaps other things. This thread is very interesting.
I’ve seen no evidence fuges can outcompete display algae in nearly 20 years.
It's just one of those things everybody says?
In saltwater carbohydrates are added daily with feeding, some foods are higher than others in this nutrient, they help maintain a balance within the beneficial bacteria that can use them to grow and divide. In our hobby we often use this source of organic carbon and others to aid the beneficial bacteria at reducing nutrients, nitrates is not the only nutrients that they oxidise for example some heterotrophic bacteria will employ enzymes, or proteins that help them break down different nutrients to a useable form for energy, Through this process of breaking down and utilising nutrients for energy, bacteria also produce many byproducts, these byproducts include gases, such as hydrogen and methane, vitamins such as K and the B-group (a source that we rely on) and metabolites such as short chain fatty acids some of this byproduct can be beneficial to other organisms in the system.
Some algae’s can use ammonia more efficiently than others, I believe folks on the triton method are encouraged in using different species as this is one of the benefits of a algae bed.
Ammonia is highly desirable by many photosynthetic organisms and coral is no different, I would advocate ammonia dosing to aid the growth of coral although I wouldn’t encourage it during the maturing process of a system. Ammonia is only a issue if nuisances are established in the system to start with. This is due the nuisance algae having the exact same nutrients requirement as all photosynthetic coral, the main difference is that algae can grow faster than coral as we know and use the ammonia more efficiently.
I couldn’t have said it better
Here’s a few quick pics of my tank from today. If I had a fuge I could claim it’s algae free status is due to competition from the algae in the fuge, and without a doubt it would be believed. However, I grow nothing photosynthetic in my sump. So, am I some sort of reef master, lol;
There’s many photosynthetic algaes in your DT to claim that a Refugium is not effective at outcompeting them.
Probably wrong word to describe it, I prefer the words you use in this paper under “Sinks for Ammonia in Reef Aquaria: Algae”
Almost everyone here is smarter than I am but I think we are missing a very important point. All the things we are posting about, bacteria, algae, cyano, diatoms, hydrogen peroxide, etc. are transient.
What is the evidence that Randy strugggles to write the word "Struggle"?
