Can you make your own Amino Acid liquid?

[JPMagyar]

Just going to throw this out there with no previous research . . . I have started dosing amino acids based on research I read that shows zooxanthellea and coral skeletal growth are improved in the presence of amino acids. My question is can I go down to my local health food store and buy a bunch of amino acid supplements and make my own amino acid liquid? Are the amino acids soluble? Is there any data on what amino acids exist in the ocean in free form?

Just wondering what the omniscient world of RC knows about this topic?

 

[aquaenthusiast]

Just going to throw this out there with no previous research . . . I have started dosing amino acids based on research I read that shows zooxanthellea and coral skeletal growth are improved in the presence of amino acids. My question is can I go down to my local health food store and buy a bunch of amino acid supplements and make my own amino acid liquid? Are the amino acids soluble? Is there any data on what amino acids exist in the ocean in free form?

Just wondering what the omniscient world of RC knows about this topic?

I think you definitely could, if you knew that the amino acid "supplements" didnt have any extra harmful stuff in them like stabilizers etc

http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/nutrition-6/amino-acids

 

[JPMagyar]

Yep. That was the article that got me interested in dosing amino acids in the first place, but right not I'm spending a small fortune on amino acid supplements and I have to believe that this stuff is actually really simple to make, but I know absolutely nothing about amino acid supplements at GNC as compared to what Salifert or Elos or whoever is making. Maybe I can try the chemistry forum as well. I like to think the boys at Salifert or Elos did some aquarium specific research before they put together their formula, but the question is can there potion be easily duplicated.

 

[yrema]

I am not sure if this may help but I did try to make my own DIY supplement years ago as well:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1026202

I tried mixing it to my coral food and tried dosing it separately as well...nothing bad happened to my previous tank as far as the supplement is concerned, although I am not sure whether it did promote faster growth or not.

I did not have any SPS corals back then too.

 

[JPMagyar]

This study was designed to assess the importance of dissolved free amino acids (DFAA) as a nitrogen source for the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata. For this purpose, experiments were performed using 15N-enriched DFAAs, and %15N enrichment was measured both in animal tissue and zooxanthellae at different DFAA concentrations, incubation time and light levels. As previously observed for urea, which is another source of organic nitrogen, DFAA uptake exhibited a biphasic mode consisting of an active carrier-mediated transport for concentrations below 3μ mol l"“1 and a linear uptake for higher concentrations. The value of the carrier affinity (Km=1.23 μmol l"“1 DFAA) indicated good adaptation of the corals to the low levels of DFAA concentrations measured in most oligotrophic waters. DFAA uptake was also correlated with light. The DFAA contribution to the nitrogen requirements for tissue growth was compared to the contribution of ammonia, nitrate and urea, for which uptake was also measured in S. pistillata. Inorganic sources (NH4+ and NO3"“) contributed 75% of the daily nitrogen needs against 24% for organic sources. Taken altogether, dissolved organic and inorganic nitrogen can supply almost 100% of the nitrogen needs for tissue growth.

So I looked up the actual scientific paper upon which the Coral Science article was based and the highlighted lines of the summary are what caught my eye. Does this mean that corals don't really care where they get their nitrogen? Is the nitrogen provided by Dissolved Free Amino Acids any better at promoting tissue growth versus simple ammonia, nitrate, and urea?

As an aquarist I have always felt that the best tanks had relatively high bioloads and that would be a logical source of increased levels of inorganic nitrogen as listed above.

Hmmm . . . me thinks I need to move this to the chemistry forum to see if Randy has any insight. :idea:

 

[tommyboynj]

Man I'd love to make my own amino. It's pricey stuff. I've used both brightwells and elos and prefer the elos. I thinks it probably more psychological preference as the elos stinks so I feel like I'm adding more than rodi water. IMO the overall obsession with super clean water has created a need for these products. The best tanks iv seen always seem to have higher nutrient loads that offset all the filtration methods. Iv definatly moved more in this direction. I was running biopellets and gfo and barley feeding and my tank looked ok. Within few week of pulling the gfo all my corals looked better. Then I started feeding more and using amino. That was a year ago and Iv gotten better growth and coloration. Plus my fish are happier lol.

 

[dadummy]

post the link to the chemistry forums, would like to follow along, thanks

 

[Chicago]

Any updates ?

 

[fixmgood]

I use GNC amino 2000 it is a giant tablet that I crush into a fine powder and when I feed the tank I just mix it in. This was recommended to me by a friend who owns a coral farm. So I have been doing this for a few weeks and if I told you that I have noticed any difference I would be lying although I guess it has some benefit

 

[Chicago]

Why can't we find and use a quality supplement such as maybe one of these

http://www.healthdesigns.com/amino-acids-1?form=1541&gclid=CMq5-Lettb0CFSho7AodABwAPg

 

[disc1]

I'd recommend caution here. You need to identify which amino acids you want to dose and which amino acids are in some of these supplements. Human nutritional requirements can be quite different from the nutritional requirements for corals.