Are corals considered bio-load?

[jjvanb]

What the question says. If I didn't have any fish at all in my system, only corals, and had no need to add 'food' would there be any need for the various nutrient export methods we employ? Just something I'm curious about. I have no intention of running a fishless tank.

 

[shifty51008]

while they do add load to your system it is very very tiny, to the point no one really add's it to the system's load. same with CUC.

 

[Sk8r]

True. They are living filters, and the stonies consume calcium hand over fist, so they need that input constantly as they grow. The softies can affect water quality---they spit when annoyed, and need carbon to cleanse the water from that spit, but they also are filtering the water for food. Both live on light, as well, photosynthesizing.

 

[Timfish]

I don't consider corals as bioload but essential to filtration. Corals need nitrogen and phosphates for their various simbionts and will actively pull ammonia and urea released by fish from the water column. Corals or maybe more correctly the coral holobiont is autotrophic in nature, promoting an oxygen enriched environment.*



*http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23882445

 

[jjvanb]

I don't consider corals as bioload but essential to filtration. Corals need nitrogen and phosphates for their various simbionts and will actively pull ammonia and urea released by fish from the water column. Corals or maybe more correctly the coral holobiont is autotrophic in nature, promoting an oxygen enriched environment.*



*http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23882445

Whoosh! that was the sound of that article going right over my head!

But thanks all for the responses.