Fish poop good, people poop bad.

[Timfish]

Quoting from the abstract for a paper titled "Context dependent effects of nutrient loading on the coral-algal mutualism."

"naturally occurring enrichment from fish excretion increased coral growth while human-mediated enrichment tended to decrease coral growth"

Here's the link to the abstract (the link to download the paper is partway down the side column on the right hand side):
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/260158890_Context-dependent_effects_of_nutrient_loading_on_the_coral-algal_mutualism

[AcroporAddict]

Someone had to write a paper on this? I guess I better remove that toilet seat I just installed over my sump......Darn!

[billsreef]

Someone had to write a paper on this?

As obvious as it might seem to us, when you start arguing need to deal differently with sewage than just letting seep out onto the reef you actually do need some scientific research done on the subject to get other people to believe the obvious. Even then, you still get people that want to deny it's a problem for the reef.

[Steveb]

Is it just a volume of N & P from human waste vs. fish waste or is it also the flora that comes along with human waste. I would suspect a combination of both..

[billsreef]

Is it just a volume of N & P from human waste vs. fish waste or is it also the flora that comes along with human waste. I would suspect a combination of both..

Bacteria specific to human waste have indeed been found to be the cause of some coral disease. I also expect the N & P from treated sewage has a lack of nutritional value as opposed to fish feces which are known to be a source of food to coral.

[MondoBongo]

so that's what i've been doing wrong?

thanks for sharing the paper. :)

[Timfish]

Since this paper suggests corals are exhibiting a preference for ammonia and phosphates over nitrates it might have some practical application for aquarists who might feel the need to add fertilizer to their system if they've stripped the nutrients from their aquaria.

[Aquarist007]

Someone had to write a paper on this? I guess I better remove that toilet seat I just installed over my sump......Darn!

Definetly bathroom reading. I'm running copies of the articles for all three bathrooms:dance:

Have just the toilet for the job too
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/Aquarium%20Pics/toilet.jpg~original (http://s142.photobucket.com/user/reefescapetangster/media/Aquarium%20Pics/toilet.jpg.html)

[AcroporAddict]

Definetly bathroom reading. I'm running copies of the articles for all three bathrooms:dance:

Have just the toilet for the job too
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r107/reefescapetangster/Aquarium%20Pics/toilet.jpg~original (http://s142.photobucket.com/user/reefescapetangster/media/Aquarium%20Pics/toilet.jpg.html)
Well, that paper foiled my plans for some personal nitrate dosing.:blown: