Randy Holmes-Farley
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You know that I am not an article linker type of guy. I read, learn and assimilate and sometimes put into action. One was a talk at the St. Louis zoo a long time ago by a marine bacteriologist that mostly was speaking about dinos in hosts, but also free... along with some articles here and there over the years (most study adaptability in low nitrogen environments, but you can find a few that touch on high). Dinos that use transporters specifically designed for depleted environments and will suffer beyond repletion into excess. Cyano and other matting bacteria is well studied to die at fairly low (for us) residual nitrate levels. If you are still skeptical, head over to the dino thread and watch them melt away and disappear when people raise their residual nitrate levels - there is a small factor here where the transporters also have adapted to use no2 and that might play a role with backend dosing only, but this is something that I have not read or heard enough about to speak with most people about... but this requires cutting back on feeding to keep no2 tank levels down which also limits ammonia/ammonium from the corals.
I've never seen evidence of an isolated organism that suffers from slight excess nutrients, and I'd be somewhat surprised if that is what's happening to dinos at 5 ppm nitrate.
I think the competition explanation is far more likely. Competition for something such as space or a needed trace element.