Organic phosphate is Peanut Butter

[subsea]

I copied this post from my thread on Nano Reef, "Is macro effective at phosphate export?"

Here is a tongue-in-cheek response to organic phosphate: My favorite organic phosphate is peanut butter

Meaning, organic phosphate is just food particles, or dissolved foods. They are eaten/absorbed by the corals. Then the corals produce ammonia/urea, which is the real problem.

Algae does indeed put stuff back into the the water: Mostly glucose. Same stuff you buy and dose (carbs). Amino acids too. And Vitamin C.

About the tomatoes: My understanding is the some of the top-tier garden fertilizers are said to be algae based. I know I through algae on to plants and tree roots sometimes, instead of miracle gro.

Anyway, the amount of phosphate (inorganic, which is what matters) that is removed by algae will be proportional to the photosynthesis of the algae, which will be proportional to: Light, flow, and attachment. Attachment keeps the algae in place so the strong from can pass over it and not carry it away. This determines how fast it grows, which determines how fast phosphate is removed from the water.

My response was this:

Yes, peanut butter is organic phosphate. So is detritus. I will stick with the peanut butter and let the fish and janitors eat the detritus.

I use kelp concentrate that I purchase from Home Depot garden center. I add nutrients to all of my growout systems. It has all major and minor nutrients except phosphate. Recently, after Ward Lab showed me that phosphate was below .01 ppm, I used Miracle Grow Bloom Buster to fertilize my reef tank.

Some years back, I read a graduate thesis from University of Hawaii, that indicated the ratio between nitrogen and phosphate uptake was 100:1. With fast growing Caulerpa, it was 20:1. This same caulerpa is the first one to go sexual.

The things which algae puts back into the water sounds like pluses to me. Can you shed some light on lateral line as a symptom and how can Tangs grazing on algae correct the problem?

Patrick

PS. Thank you for the tongue and cheek. I needed a smile to start the day.

[Planeden]

Man, I read the title and was hoping for a sandwich from my nutrient export. Oh well, I'll stick with Jif like my choosy mom.

[subsea]

You could eat Red Ogo as nutrient export.

[Robb in Austin]

Have you used macro from your system to fertilize plants? Do you just prune it and throw it around the plant/shrub/tree?

[subsea]

I especially compost tomatoes with it. In the hi pH, caliche soil here, I regularly use calcium sulphate (gypsum) and magnesium sulphate (Epsom salt). These minerals are major components in macro.