Nutrient Cycle

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

Nutrient Cycle

 

[BeanAnimal]

Ignoring the steps in between and the predominant players like bacteria, direct uptake, feeding input, etc., what evidence do you have that a typical reef aquarium produces enough phytoplankton to drive that cycle to a degree that matters?

And what evidence do you have that the “pods” in that aquarium are sustained primarily (or to any meaningful degree) by suspended phytoplankton rather than attached algae, biofilms and detritus?