Ssteve, sometimes perceptions get clouded. I will never claim to have the answers, I am neither right or wrong but I do have my own experiences as well as the collective knowledge and experience of lots of other people who have shared their methods, successes and failures on the net.
Rich, I apologize if my own interjections are counter to what you are trying to demonstrate.
Perhaps we sometimes really can't see the forest for the trees. Corals are living animals with nutritional requirements for health. They have the ability to consume food (nutrients) and perhaps the ability to not consume them if they are getting their nutritional requirement elsewhere. Even if the reefs have very low levels of water borne nutrients like nitrates and phosphates, the available nutrient source of live prey is abundant. Live prey contains nitrates and phosphates, which all living animals require. So how does this impact what happens in our tanks? Every creature has a preferred food source, just as we may have a ribeye in front of us and a can of Ensure. Most will choose to eat the steak and not drink the Ensure. However if the steak isn't available we will drink the Ensure before we starve. Having higher po4 and no3 doesn't automatically guarantee the coral must consume or absorb it. If it is the only available food source it certainly can and will, perhaps why we see corals turn brown?
If we try to run the same no3 and po4 level of the reefs we must ensure that we are also providing enough nutritional food for our livestock. We do this with food we add but this is difficult as the corals may not be able to consume what we offer, or some will and some won't. Zooxanthellae is not always enough to supply all of the nutritional requirements for our corals and the Zoox also require nutrients to stay alive and multiply. All of the entities in our tanks require food.
If we are providing enough food, either live planktonic foods in our tanks (from good live rock, planktonic life forms will also reproduce given proper nutrition) or additions of prepared food that our corals are capable of consuming then the health of the coral is assured. Most people do not provide this environment. Most people, because of being mislead into thinking that the natural environment is nutrient poor, will in turn starve the life in their tanks. You can see this daily on RC or any forum you choose, "why are my corals so pale?" is a thread that pops up weekly. In an attempt to keep algae in check people resort to severe nutrient removal and inadequate feedings, thinking this is the right way, when it may actually be the wrong way.
When looking at TOTM's or any successful tank, you will note that almost all of them are established and mature tanks. We have often tossed around the term "established, mature tank". This implies that the tank has had enough time to mature, the life in the tank is healthy, reproducing and the higher life forms are dominant and the lower life forms in check but still healthy and reproducing, this in turn helps feed the higher life forms. A tank without a large pod, sponge and microfauna population is riding on the edge.
Many of us have run our tanks with higher than "accepted" no3 and po4 levels without hair algae taking over the tank. If water borne no3 and po4 are the only food in your tank that is feeding all of the life, the tank is not one I would consider healthy. Feeding the tank is just as important as feeding the fish, not everything eats fish poo. Having higher that natural reef levels of no3 and po4 does not mean the tank will suffer, it can but that is not an absolute.
so pls let us know about those as well, and how you manage it. cause as of right now, ppl are seeing this thread as dont filter your SPS tank ... and you will be able to keep these animals alive and well [and colorfull] ...
