Quote:
Originally Posted by Twinfallz
I reckon your rant would only confuse people that don't know any better.
For those people, here's how it works.
Nutrients are added to the aquarium via feeding the inhabitants - nutirents in.
Metabolism of this food creates nitrogen, firstly as ammonia (algaes favourite source of nitrogen).
All foods contain phosphates, so its also added to the water. Nitrogen & phosphate (fertiliser) are necessary for photosynthesis.
When the algae on a scrubber screen, for example, grows, & is then removed from the system, all the nutrients assimilated are also removed from the system - nutrients out.
So, it's a case of nutrients in, and nutrients out. This is the purpose of algae filtration, & it is testable via aquarium test kits. The nutrients do not build up in the system because they are litterally removed from the system via algae export.
If you want an aquarium analogy of elegance coral's Brazilian rain forest, where leaves, flowers, branches, etc, fall to the ground, rot & feed the forrest, then what you would need to do is, take all the algae that has grown in you algae filter and dump it back into the system rather than throwing it in the garden.
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Metabolism of food does not create nitrogen. Nitrogen is not being created anywhere on this planet. Nitrogen is an element. It is created in the heart of stars. Not in the bellies of a fish.
When algae like you culture on your ATS is involved, the process of nutrients in and nutrients out is not testable via aquarium test kits. Our test kits only give us a small picture of one small step in the cycle of these nutrients. The second your algae takes up inorganic nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements, to combine them into organic forms, they become invisible to our test kits. Those elements that bounce from organic to inorganic and back again, over and over again within sand beds and rocks are not detectable by our test kits. The only thing our test kits show us is the inorganic nitrogen and phosphate that ends up in the open water of the system.
How is it that you add nutrients in organic form. Like in the form of mysis shrimp, pellets, and nori. Then remove nutrients in organic from by harvesting algae from you ATS, yet you're able to test for this process with test kits that only register
inorganics???????
You need not throw the algae that grew on the ATS into the display in order to "feed the forest". Just as a tree in the forest is constantly shedding leaves, seeds, and branches, the algae in your ATS is constantly shedding organics as well. Like spores, fragments, and organic substances dissolved in water. When you harvest from your ATS, you do not remove all the organics that the algae produced and released into your system between cleanings of your screen. People that support ATS's can not deny this process so they try to justify it by saying that it "feeds" the system. What it does is feed decomposers. Organisms that live in the sediments (rock and sand). These organisms, from microbes up, feed, defecate, reproduce, and die. Over and over again. This process traps, holds, and recycles nutrients within these sediments. The longer this process goes on, with the constant supply of nutrients/food from the ATS, the more nutrient rich these areas become. None of which is detectable by our test kits.