stony_corals - I don't run any carbon source, but I have not had to yet - knock on wood
. I feed 3 cubes a day (mysis,rotifer,cyclops) and my natural filtration does ok with this. I changed 5 gals every 2 weeks. I like the spectrum thought. In my observations, I've notice that the whiter the bulb, the more bleached out the corals appear. The bluer, the better. Has anyone else noticed this?
A coral is a coral whether it comes from the ocean or someone's tank. Their individual enviornment they grow in is different. Everyone's tank is different so to narrow it down to captive aquaria coral and natural coral is limiting at best. Joe Schmo feeds his tank everyday and Slick Rick doesn't. Each coral is in a different enviornment so can we really classify them in only two categories; both captive aquaria and wild even though 1 guy feeds about 40% of what the ocean provides and the other one doesn't at all? Of course not.
Flint&Eric - I'm not disputing a coral can absorb N through the water column because we know this to be true. However, they do not rely on this as their primary source for N. Can a coral adapt and become more reliable on it than others - sure, but regardless their basic function as a feeding (prey capture)photosynthetic coral is met way before they absorb N. Besides, majority of plankton and/or food that makes it into our tanks comes from a frozen package...or a fishes' butt for many reefers
