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You guys are thinking your tanks are coral reefs. They lack the whole ocean and its dynamics. There is very little similar to a reef in a fish tank. Think bigger. Theres a lot more going on than just a coral reef in the sea, its all connected. Nothing comes in and nothing comes out. Fish tanks lack a lot of fuctions of the sea. The abyss is one but one example. There are many.
The animals you want to keep dont really live in a magrove swamp. If they did theyd die pretty quickly by sedimentation. Just condider that for a second, then think how your tank works.
You constantly put food in your tank. The ocean and coral reef doesnt have input. Its an ecosystem based on what's available, and thats why we have them. A coral reef exists on what very little is available, and they live in a nutrient dessert. What happens when you keep adding food to a tank? What would happen to the sea? The point is detrtus is okay if you can mimick the sea, but you cant. Eventually sandbeds get full of organics and your tank will become eutrophic, and no longer trophic. Imo
I believe I said we don't have the ocean in our glass cages.
Don't know why you think fish don't live around and in the mangrove forests. Or around tons of detritus. My favorite fishing is flats fishing on the bay side in the keys that is practically all algae and detritus. The mangroves provide food and shelter to all kinds of minnows and predators. Wading off shore by the docks to cast nets to get bait fish. Etc etc.
And I don't know why you believe all coral reefs are clean as a whistle. They just happen to have a good CUC and few top predators. When the balance is tipped (due to human's overfishing or polution) the difference is vert noticable. On top of that one of my favorite seasons was lobster season and diving down with a net in one hand and a tickle stick in the other. I stayed far away from those nice big reefs. As mentioned above the best places were the small brown patches amont the endless green feilds indicating small patches of corals. Some hundreds of years old indicated by the tremendous size of brain corals and gorgonians. Nothing prestiene about those places and fish galore.
Only reason typical surface levels have low nutrients isn't because of some sweeping away action but the diversity of life. At least much of it.
Oh, and the oceans certainly does have inputs. Many of them. Some good and some not good. But yes, I do believe our tanks need some kind of export. But detritus is the least of my worries to try and export.
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