[Jakegr]

Just read this article by Dr. Tim Wijgerde on amino acid supplementation. He has written for the Advanced Aquarist blog in the past, and I have found his articles to be very well researched. He is a published specialist in coral nutrition.

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

There is some science the supports the use of amino acids (he cites the article I posted above).

This means that corals really have adapted to the oligotrophic waters of the ocean, as the concentration of total amino acids fluctuates between 200 to 500 nmol/l. This is only 0.03 to 0.07 mg/l or ppm! It seems corals only need small concentrations of amino acids for normal growth. In fact; it seems that SPS corals like S. pistillata only need light and dissolved nutrients (next to nitrogen, their require phosphate and other elements as well) from the water column to survive. This is in contrast to corals which really need plankton to survive, like azooxanthellate gorgonians and Dendronephthya's. Now the big question is: does dosing extra amino acids in the aquarium help your corals grow? The answer is yes. Figure 3 shows that we can manipulate the amount of amino acids corals take up, by increasing their ambient concentration. It is known that amino acids are important for building the organic matrix; an important aspect of coral calcification2. Next to this, amino acids are also used to build proteins, which have important functions in living cells.

Now that we know that coral aquaculture, and certain aquaria at home, could benefit from amino acid dosages, the next question is: how much do I need to add? This is difficult to answer. This depends on the aquarium volume, and moreover, on the nature and amount of biomass. Simply put; the amount, sizes and species of corals in the aquarium. On the coral reefs, the total DFAA fluctuates around 30 to 70 ppb, which really is quite low. The easiest way to determine the specific dosage for any tank would be to determine its total consumption per day (or week), or by measuring the total concentration of DFAA's at any given time. The equipment to do so is not really available to the average aquarist, yet. Finding out the stock concentration for the product you are using, and starting with the recommended dosage is good way to start. In the end, many aquarists develop 'salt water fingers', and learn how their aquarium responds to changes.

Anyways, I find articles like this one far more useful than the Reef Builders article. The Coral Science article drew on scientific literature to formulate conclusions. Reef Builders just took anecdotal reports, which are of questionable integrity due to potential advertising bias.