Amino Acid component skimmability

cnmcalpi · Nov 19, 2017

Hi all,

I have began to dose amino acids (auto dosing acropower 5x/day) in hopes of providing a consistent "baseline" nutrient level for coral growth as my schedule seems to create sporadic feeding habits.

The fish are fine and fat, If they haven't been fed in a day or two I just give them alot to quench their hunger. But Ive noticed that the inconsistencies really take a toll on my sps colonies.

I turned down my carbon dosing in hopes of leaving some nutrients in the tank but that only proved to provide fuel for algal growth, I believe that transient nutrient levels that pass the coral tissue and are processed and removed is the key to both feeding the coral and removing the nutrient prior to algal uptake.

Ive read that some amino acids are hydrophobic (will be skimmed) and some are hydrophyllic (no or little skimmability) and potentially amphiphillic (Characteristics of both).

Is there any way that we can determine or suppose if products like Acropower or Reef Energy are skimmable based on someone's (not mine) scientific experience?

The answer to the question will determine if its worth the effort to program skimmer shut down times @ dosing intervals or not. (I'd rather not turn my skimmer on and off as the pump seems not to like it, and I'm not in the market for a DC skimmer as mine works really well.)

I am hoping that this sparks a discussion that can answer some questions of other hobbyists that I have ran into searching for the answer to this. Alot of people seem to be into auto dosing AA, then the next question is "Does my skimmer take it right back out?"

Further reading,
https://proteinstructures.com/Structure/Structure/amino-acids.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_skimmer

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 19, 2017

cnmcalpi said:
Ive read that some amino acids are hydrophobic (no or little skimmability) and some are hydrophyllic (will be skimmed) and potentially amphiphillic (Characteristics of both).

No amino acids are entirely hydrophobic. They are either amphiphilic (which may be skimmed) or purely hydrophilic (which will not).

Skimmable ones likely include tryptophan, leucine, phenylalanine, isoleucine.

Not skimmable hydrophilic ones include lysine, arginine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, serine.

Some are in the grey area where I'm not sure if they will be skimmed or not (proline valine, etc.)

cnmcalpi · Nov 19, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
No amino acids are entirely hydrophobic. They are either amphiphilic (which may be skimmed) or purely hydrophilic (which will not).

Skimmable ones likely include tryptophan, leucine, phenylalanine, isoleucine.

Not skimmable hydrophilic ones include lysine, arginine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, serine.

Some are in the grey area where I'm not sure if they will be skimmed or not (proline valine, etc.)

That being said it sounds like to me, with a slight inefficiency due to some of the amphihilic AA's being skimmed one could tune in an effective dose while retaining a 100% skimming duty cycle.

In your opinion, does this sound likely?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 19, 2017

I don't know how efficiently they are typically skimmed out, and I expect most people use them without shutting off their skimmer.

Perhaps they mostly get the benefit of the more hydrophilic ones, but with a few possible exceptions (such as aspartic acid), it may not matter which ones are present as they may mostly be an organic source of nitrogen.