Help with understanding chart

[Cory]

In this article by Eric Borneman, he posted a chart of bacteria eaten by corals and other living things we keep. Im trying to understand the significance of it but i dont. Are they consuming a lot of bacteria or just a little?

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/eb/index.php

 

[taricha]

took me a while to find the underlying reference, and it's not crystal clear either
google books preview gives enough of the article to see what's going on maybe...

So I think the interpretation is the "optimum" part of the above graph is where the line for each organism has the maximum upward linear slope. This represents the part where when you increase concentration of bacteria available, the organism increased its uptake by the same ratio.
Going higher than that, the "rate" of bacteria removed doesn't increase in proportion to more bacteria concentration, so you are above "optimum".

The relevance of the two charts together in the original paper is to make the argument that those organism can get their entire food budget on planktonic bacteria. I would need to revisit aquarium bacteria counts before concluding that's applicable to those organisms in our skimmed aquaria (I'd bet it isn't, based on how small a subset of filter feeding organisms make it as hitchhikers in our tanks.)

 

[Cory]

took me a while to find the underlying reference, and it's not crystal clear either
google books preview gives enough of the article to see what's going on maybe...

So I think the interpretation is the "optimum" part of the above graph is where the line for each organism has the maximum upward linear slope. This represents the part where when you increase concentration of bacteria available, the organism increased its uptake by the same ratio.
Going higher than that, the "rate" of bacteria removed doesn't increase in proportion to more bacteria concentration, so you are above "optimum".

The relevance of the two charts together in the original paper is to make the argument that those organism can get their entire food budget on planktonic bacteria. I would need to revisit aquarium bacteria counts before concluding that's applicable to those organisms in our skimmed aquaria (I'd bet it isn't, based on how small a subset of filter feeding organisms make it as hitchhikers in our tanks.)

Here is some more information:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It sounds like a lot to me. If I interpret one of the columns of the table correctly, they consume about 6% of their body mass of carbon in new carbon from bacteria each day. .


Here's Eric's take on it:

"Given the importance of bacteria as a food source in marine ecosystems, it might not be surprising to learn that they are also a primary food source for corals. It has been found that bacteria alone can supply up to 100% of both the daily carbon and nitrogen requirements of corals. All corals studied consume dissolved organic material, bacteria, and detrital material. This is more than can be said for any other food source, including zooplankton and light."

 

[Cory]

Thanks guys it makes more sense. I wonder should i be dosing vinegar or sugar in small amounts just to have more bacteria?

It sounds like a lot to me. If I interpret one of the columns of the table correctly, they consume about 6% of their body mass of carbon in new carbon from bacteria each day. .

I must be missing something but 6% doesn't sound like much? What am I missing?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks guys it makes more sense. I wonder should i be dosing vinegar or sugar in small amounts just to have more bacteria?



I must be missing something but 6% doesn't sound like much? What am I missing?

How much carbon do you take in during a day relative to your carbon mass?

I think a very rough estimate would be your eating an animal that weight 6% of your mass. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you'd be eating a 9 pound animal a day. That's a lot of food.

Here's a guy holding a 9 pound fish. TIme for him to start eating!!!

northcarolinasportsman.com

 

[Cory]

How much carbon do you take in during a day relative to your carbon mass?

I think a very rough estimate would be your eating an animal that weight 6% of your mass. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you'd be eating a 9 pound animal a day. That's a lot of food.

Here's a guy holding a 9 pound fish. TIme for him to start eating!!!

northcarolinasportsman.com

Oh my, thats enormous! Corals are gluttons lol. This really puts things into perspective thank you.

Ive been thinking of adding vinegar to boost bacteria but dont want to supress ph since i got it steady at 8.1 night to 8.3 max daily and corals are growing great since my previous ph levels 7.8 to 8. Does table sugar supress ph? Bad idea?

Also, my algae turf scrubber grows some stringy macroalgae and ulva intestinalis. Ive heard algae leak carbon maybe its supplying plenty already?

 

[taricha]

Vinegar treated with kalk/limewater will eliminate the low pH concern, and probably a more conservative approach than table sugar (certainly used more widely).

Quite possible that you have enough organic C in the water, but maybe the question is - are your planktonic bacteria removed routinely through skimming, UV, filtration etc? If so, then amount of organic C in the water from algae or vinegar etc. may not matter if the planktonic population is constantly pushed too low to provide the needs of your livestock.

 

[Cory]

Vinegar treated with kalk/limewater will eliminate the low pH concern, and probably a more conservative approach than table sugar (certainly used more widely).

Quite possible that you have enough organic C in the water, but maybe the question is - are your planktonic bacteria removed routinely through skimming, UV, filtration etc? If so, then amount of organic C in the water from algae or vinegar etc. may not matter if the planktonic population is constantly pushed too low to provide the needs of your livestock.

I wonder if @AquaBiomics thinks about all this? I do use uv, a skimmer and mechanical filtration.