Quote:
Originally posted by Freckles
How much bio-load does adding a coral do to the tank? Ummm
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Frecks...
It isn't so much that the corals consume nitrate from the water column (some species
do absorb nitrogen compounds to an extent directly from the water column, but for the most part, they absorb very little
NITRATE as such), but that they do not significantly
add nitrates to the water column through their animal metabolism. Most of these substances are directly recycled by the dinoflagellate symbionts inside the animal portion of corals, with CO2 being recycled as well during periods of photosynthesis (to make the carbonate part of the CaCO3 skeleton as well as carbohydrates, although to some extent it does occur during the dark as well.) For the most part, they do not add to the bioload significantly as podman mentioned above.
As far as to what they might contribute to a number-of-corals limit in your aquaria, the production of terpenes (octocorals vs
stony corals) and physical aggression and competition between species for space is a bigger limiting factor, although Alice has the best quotable quote on this topic from a few years ago:
Quote:
Originally posted by Alice...
(listing several coral limit factors) ...and the real limit of how many corals you can put in your tank is the limit on your VISA card...
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