It's my understanding that algae sequesters more phosphate than it can use when available in case phosphate becomes limlted later on. So those numbers might be conservative as far as our reef tanks are concerned.
It is possible that is true for some species. I don't know if it is true for those that we use, however. But it may be.
Ron Shimek found 0.008% phosphorus in wet weight caulerpa from aquaria. I've not seen data on the wet to dry weight ratio to compare it to the above ocean values (0.08%), but if it is 90% water, the values match.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/rs/feature/index.php
I certainly agree that many folks may not have a large enough refugium, or bright enough lighting to take up all the nutrients that they want it to.
My system is fairly complicated and extended. There is a link to a thread below that goes through it all (a while ago). I have two reef tanks on it, a 120 and a 90.
The return from the 120 goes through my 2 older refugia on the way to the sump, and the 90 return goes through the two newer refugia on the way to the same sump. I have 2 Iwaki 30 RLXT pumps in series that pump the water to a T that sends some water to each tank and some to an ozonizer. The ETS 800 gemini skimmer is on the sump.
I have 4 different refugia now. One (about 18" x 24") is lit by two bulbs that are 45-60 w halogen spot or flood lamps on track lighting. One (about 24" x 30") is lit by a 175 w, 4300 k mh bulb, and 2 (each about 20" x 30") are together lit by 8 fluorescent tubes that are, IIRC, 34 w 3000k, 4 foot tubes. The two old refugia have deep aragonite sand beds on the bottom, but I think they do little to nothing. The new ones have no substrate.
I presently grow Caulerpa racemosa in all of them. For a long time I grew Chaeto. But Caulerpa gradually took over and out competed the Chaeto, so I interpret it that the Caulerpa is a bit more efficient at nutrient removal.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=698596
It is possible that is true for some species. I don't know if it is true for those that we use, however. But it may be.
Ron Shimek found 0.008% phosphorus in wet weight caulerpa from aquaria. I've not seen data on the wet to dry weight ratio to compare it to the above ocean values (0.08%), but if it is 90% water, the values match.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/rs/feature/index.php
I certainly agree that many folks may not have a large enough refugium, or bright enough lighting to take up all the nutrients that they want it to.
My system is fairly complicated and extended. There is a link to a thread below that goes through it all (a while ago). I have two reef tanks on it, a 120 and a 90.
The return from the 120 goes through my 2 older refugia on the way to the sump, and the 90 return goes through the two newer refugia on the way to the same sump. I have 2 Iwaki 30 RLXT pumps in series that pump the water to a T that sends some water to each tank and some to an ozonizer. The ETS 800 gemini skimmer is on the sump.
I have 4 different refugia now. One (about 18" x 24") is lit by two bulbs that are 45-60 w halogen spot or flood lamps on track lighting. One (about 24" x 30") is lit by a 175 w, 4300 k mh bulb, and 2 (each about 20" x 30") are together lit by 8 fluorescent tubes that are, IIRC, 34 w 3000k, 4 foot tubes. The two old refugia have deep aragonite sand beds on the bottom, but I think they do little to nothing. The new ones have no substrate.
I presently grow Caulerpa racemosa in all of them. For a long time I grew Chaeto. But Caulerpa gradually took over and out competed the Chaeto, so I interpret it that the Caulerpa is a bit more efficient at nutrient removal.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=698596
