I'm starting this thread 'cause I felt I already pulled Eds' thread in a different direction-sorry Ed.
Any way, if our tanks are limited in Carbon I would think Fish poop is a very important part of our systems to maintain the health of our corals. I think I have seen this without realizing the chemistry behind it...I knew my corals needed more food and I had limited fish. I added two tangs and changed the food from fish flakes to blender mush...upon doing this I have noticed the fish poo causes expansion of the
coral polyps...more than what was there when they were eating just flakes....Is this correct? Is this how the corals get some of their carbon...(along with algae breakdown, Calcium carbonate...etc.)? This all being true, is there a best product or best practice to feeding the tank? I know we don't want the food to hang out in the tank...causing excess phosphates,
algae blooms, maybe unwanted bacteria, but is there maybe an amount of time that the digested food should be allowed to float around to be utilized.
Maybe this is all obvious, or maybe I'm just way out there someplace, I just don't think I thought about it this way...blah, blah blah.........
I think I am finally understanding my tank chemistry! I mean, there are things that I know to do but never really thought how important the water actually is...then a bulb finally went off and I began to realize that everything lives in the water, surrounded by water, eats, drinks, well everything water, lol...ok, I know its obvious, but really you can run a tank by just keeping it clean and knowing parameters and keeping the parameters where they need to be...but I think maybe understanding the chemistry, and why you do certain things and what it will do to the tank and living specimens both good and bad, well for me it's truly making a difference.
