The person you speak of that was PMing people and has quite the attitude I will agree is Santa Monica, and it was 2-1/2 years ago (October 2008, roughly) when he started the "light in a bucket" threads. I have read dozens of the threads he runs on multiple sites all over and the one thing I consistently saw was that the people attacking him and the information and answers he posted would do so in a very offensive and inflammatory way, and most of the time (not all of the time, but very nearly all of the time) the answers that he gave to legitimate questions were based on fact and science! People would then throw on-line fits about the 'junk science' that he was posting, yet they would post nothing that would prove otherwise. In fact, in most cases, what they would post would be the personal attacks, not his, and sometimes things that they would post he would actually review and what they posted actually was not true, and in several cases it actually proved his point and proved them wrong.
I spent weeks reading through all of these threads, and after going through all of that I saw a couple of trends. The first was that Santa Monica's attitude when challenged at times was pretty much like him poking you with a stick. If you posted in a snarky manner, then you got snarked back. And to me, that is just not constructive. If you posted from a matter of fact position, calm and clear, asked questions with respect then you got treated with mutual respect. Those conversations were constructive.
To me, those flame-throwing arguments that you see between SM and everyone else is just something you have to look past. Read between the lines as pskelton says.
But to answer your questions about the carbon compounds (amino acids) that algae produces, here's a list from the Algae Scrubber site FAQs:
Although almost no aquarist knows this (athough every marine biologist does), algae produces all the vitamins and amino acids in the ocean that corals need to grow. Yes these are the same vitamins and amino acids that reefers buy and dose to their tanks. How do you think the vitamins and amino acids got in the ocean in the first place? Algae also produces a carbon source to feed the nitrate-and-phosphate-reducing bacteria (in addition to the algae consuming nitrate and phosphate itself). Yes this is the same carbon that many aquarists buy and add to their tanks. In particular, algae produce:
Vitamins:
Vitamin A
Vitamin E
Vitamin B6
Beta Carotene
Riboflavin
Thiamine
Biotin
Ascorbate (breaks chloramines into chlorine+ammonia)
N5-Methyltetrahydrofolate
Other tetrahydrofolate polyglutamates
Oxidized folate monoglutamates
Nicotinate
Pantothenate
Amino Acids:
Alanine
Aspartic acid
Leucine
Valine
Tyrosine
Phenylalanine
Methionine
Aspartate
Glutamate
Serine
Proline
Carbohydrates (sugars):
Galactose
Glucose
Maltose
Xylose
Misc:
Glycolic Acid
Citric Acid (breaks chloramines into chlorine+ammonia)
Nucleic Acid derivatives
Polypeptides
Proteins
Enzymes
Lipids
Studies:
Production of Vitamin B-12, Thiamin, and Biotin by Phytoplankton. Journal of Phycology, Dec 1970:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1529-8817.1970.tb02406.x/abstract
Secretion Of Vitamins and Amino Acids Into The Environment By Ochromanas Danica. Journal of Phycology, Sept 1971 (Phycology is the study of algae):
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1529-8817.1971.tb01505.x/abstract
Qualitative Assay of Dissolved Amino Acids and Sugars Excreted by Chlamydomanas Reinhardtii (chlorophyceae) and Euglena Gracilis (Euglenophyceae), Jounrnal of Phycology, Dec 1978:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1529-8817.1978.tb02459.x/abstract
These are not harmful to corals. Algae Scrubbing is not harmful to corals. If it was, you would see people running these devices all over the place talking about how their tanks were dying because of scrubbers.
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At a minimum, you cannot deny that algal biomass reduces N and P, and fast. It is a whole different argument about carbon compounds in the water column and their effect on coral growth. You're talking DOCs here and I've read it all in the past, so I know where you're going with that argument. You're not going to suck me in. That's the skimmer vs scrubber debate. It's been done already and for anyone interested in reading that debate, go to the "mega nitriate phosphate filter blah blah blah..." thread on Reef Sanctuary and be prepared to read between the lines.
The tank I run a scrubber on is a wild success mixed tank, I have had no fish or coral death and maintenance is minimal, N is 0 on Salifert looking sideways, P is another issue, usually hovers between 0.09 and 0.13 for some reason, could be the food or that N is limiting P. But SPS, LPS, NPS, softies, all doing great. Except the zoas, they just hold their own.
Of course, the tank had a crack and was about to explode and I had to pull everything out of it yesterday...so we'll see how it does...
. Can you elaborate a little Tom? So I should just got with the ATS and scrap the fuge? I'm thinking if it's just going to be basically a Remote Deep Sand Bed, then I could use a smaller tank. Maybe 5.5g? I think I'll just put the ATS into the sump and then maybe add the DSB later down the road...
