Pseudoscience and reefing: why so much bad information (semi rant)

[under_water_ninja]

You will get some good info on this at the cocktails and coral talk, @Thales gonna lay it all out! Btw I will creat a post for it within the next day or so.

 

[iani]

The Dinos doing worse at higher nutrient levels isn't that weird an ecological concept. Cacti for example doing better in arid (i.e. low nutrient) conditions but get out competed by other plants under non-arid conditions. Organisms often have a preferred set of conditions (a niche). But to really prove that you'd need a controlled experiment: several control and experimental tanks and you'd need to measure and manipulate conditions as precisely as possible. Most reefers are running an experiment but without a control; they can really only observe the impact of changes. So if people have success getting of dinos by increasing nutrients a logical conclusion is that dinos are out-competed by other microrganisms who utilize abundant nutrients better.
It's doesn't it's correct but it's not illogical. On the other hand you do have counter arguments like red tides that seem to occur with sudden increases in nutrients and may be composed of a particular dino species. Suffice biology/ecology is complicated with many factors and organisms to consider.

I personally think the reason why you see low nutrients with a dino outbreak is because the dino is very good at using those nutrients. You are testing your water after an outbreak most of the times and see the nutrients low (because the dino is consuming them) not because they grow better at low nutrients.

 

[richiev]

I personally think the reason why you see low nutrients with a dino outbreak is because the dino is very good at using those nutrients. You are testing your water after an outbreak most of the times and see the nutrients low (because the dino is consuming them) not because they grow better at low nutrients.

That's an honestly obvious in retrospect analysis that I'm surprised I haven't heard someone call out before. Everyone says that regarding algae outbreaks at low nutrients, but I've never heard it mentioned for dinos.

That'd be another interested experiment. How quickly do dinos consume nutrients.

 

[iani]

That's an honestly obvious in retrospect analysis that I'm surprised I haven't heard someone call out before. Everyone says that regarding algae outbreaks at low nutrients, but I've never heard it mentioned for dinos.

That'd be another interested experiment. How quickly do dinos consume nutrients.

Check this out. https://www.jcvi.org/media-center/n...abolize-nitrogen-enabling-them-thrive-dynamic