wasp

What's to interpret? Seems pretty black and white to me. Proper scientific study too, rather than some of the opinion and hearsay we sometimes see . You go. Big day tommorrow! More dodging work to spend all day posting, huh? :lol:

Your comments Layton....

Your comments Layton....

I mean BINGO! :bounce: The second part of your second post may represent a break through for you. Not sure if they "actively farm" the bacteria, they could be there for several reasons. However, as you seem to think so, what would be the advantage to the coral? Another source of nutrient?

I mean, basically, BINGO! :bounce: You have realised the connection between a sand bed, and critters. Trouble is, you said that critters are less nutritious than bacteria. You sure about that? I doubt you have much literature to support that. Way I see it, pound for pound, they may be, but there is more to it than just pound for pound, hence the importance of critters as a way to deliver nutrition. Also, at night I have observed by torchlight, cauluastrea catching & eating various types of pods and amphipods. Even seen zoanthids do it. GOT to be a GREAT source of natural food for them.

That can certainly be a reason. There are many others too. BINGO!

BINGO!

Oops! Temper!!!

And this from Eric is interesting: Absolutely it's interesting! Says dissolved organic material, bacteria, and detrital material, all of which obviously exist in a sand bed, can meet 100% of certain coral requirements, unlike zooplankton & light!!!

And this from Reef is interesting!

EXCELLENT POSTS Reef. Accompanied by reference to a proper scientific study also, kind of clinches it. The extension of the tentacles of the sps polyps mentioned, is something I have observed in my own corals when feeding Reef Roids coral food, it stimulates them to stick their tentacles out & catch them. I also use Coral Vital, which does not have such an effect on polyp extension, but non the less has helped achieve some great growth in times past.

Sheesh Dude, this part:-

Oh, the word doesn't changes everything. Looks like I posted my leaping nome too fast. For a minute I thought you had seen the light Layton :lol: . No they don't, times of scarcity don't last very long at sea, all they do is stop growing, same as we observe in our under nutrientated tanks sometimes.

:bounce:

:bounce: I'm starting to like this thread more and more!

Well I'll have to agree, critters are critters. Learn something new every day. The second part of your statement though, you sure about that? Any references?

Yes can be a pain that no edit thing, specially after a long day of dodging work & writing posts Layton :lol: Anyhow, what did you think of my post to Cracker & Fay? Something you & I could both live with?

Whoa!!! :bounce: Only hard part will be signing the cheque

:bounce:

Don't see anything weird at all Layton, or at least not in what you quoted from the article . Your problem seems to be that you believe the bacteria get eaten by "critters" in a sand bed, making them unavailable as food to corals. Partly true, BUT - You forgot the second 1/2 of the story. Critters beget baby critters, many of these are top notch coral food of the highest order, and what I am wanting from the DSB I am going to set up. Apart from that, if the critters eat bacteria & do not turn them into baby critters, they turn it into fecal material, once again food for bacteria. Ain't the circle of life a beautiful thing?

Cracker and Fay, I think you have cut to the chase here. The post highlights the dilema, and the reason some will not feed their corals. The contents of the sand bed, or for that matter anything we feed the corals, will add phosphate & other undesireables to the tank. Nonetheless, in the wild, corals ingest large amounts of planktonic food and this is very good for them. So the argument is not really about to feed or not to feed, it's about how to feed, without polluting the tank. IMO any sand bed must be vacuumed from time to time or eventually negative consequences will result. It's all about balance & that's where skill comes in because it must be different with every tank.

Yes I'm figuring a way now, it will be a remote one, not in the tank. There are some possible names for the thread on it :- "DSB meets BB" "Shimek meets Duncan" "Unmoveable Object meets Irresistable Force" And Oh - Layton you got enough marbles to know I didn't forget that! :lol: . Photosynthesis? Do you realise that when farmers grow a crop, they put fertilizer on it? Like all photosynthetic organisms, the crop require a balance of minerals, trace elements, etc. Nitrogen alone will not cut the mustard. So do zooxanthellae need all that. How do they get it? It is ingested by the coral. That is what symbiosis is all about. So what happens if the farmer does not see to it that the crop has enough of the required nutrients? Stunted, ratty crop. Bit like some of our corals.

Love it!! Spoken like a true coinessiour of finer things fragging :lol: . Amazing how tough these lps can be, just to see if it would work, about a year ago I chopped some cauluastrea heads in 1/2, right through the mouth. All recovered & grew fine.

You're a lucky guy to get one of these I've never seen one in NZ. I used to spend quite a bit of time in the anemone forum at RC, and other anemone literature, peoples experience seemed to be they are safe, but one or two said they felt they annoyed the anemone. Be interested in the updates.

Saying his conclusions are weird for one. How weird? In fact to say the formal qualifications are irrelevant is weird. No?