A possible pathway for feeding corals - theoretical question

[Hungarian_reefer]

More and more people in the reef-keeping community are using dissolved organic matter (e.g. amino acids and various dissolved organic nutrients) that has been pre-mixed with flocculants (such as CaCO₃ “reef snow” or zeolite powder — I think Zeozym). The logic behind this is essentially to turn dissolved organic matter into particulate form, since — in my opinion — particulate feeding is starting to gain dominance over dissolved organic matter.
In connection with this, a number of questions arise for me, the essence of which is: Are dissolved organic matter (liquid coral foods) that are pre-mixed with flocculants truly suitable for feeding corals?
Breaking my question down further:
1, Does enough organic matter actually adhere to a flocculant for the whole concept to make sense at all?
2, Are coral polyps capable of taking up flocculants from the water column?
3, Is the organic matter bound to the flocculants actually utilizable for the corals?
4, After corals have digested the organic material from the flocculants, what happens to the flocculant itself (the question is not so much about CaCO₃, but rather about zeolite powder)?
5, Isn’t it more likely that these organic-rich flocculants are essentially just creating miniature bacterial colonies, making this yet another form of organic carbon dosing? In that case, wouldn’t it make more sense to deliberately grow bacterial colonies on the flocculants instead (i.e. bacteria + nutrients + flocculant systems)?

I am critical, but I do not dismiss the mechanism, because coral reefs can also be rich in CaCO₃ flocculants (for example, the feces of corallivorous fish), so it is logical that corals may have adapted to this food source as well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I do not know the answer to whether corals can benefit from such particulates in the water, and if they can, whether there is more or less benefit than from the same organics when dissolved.

I have concerns about such materials plugging fine pores in organisms such as sponges, but do not have evidence of such a concern being real.