Well, I am just trying to figure out why, at least in terms of CaCO3 deposition, a NO3 reading of 5ppm vs 20ppm is going to be an issue in marine tank for coral, but not Macro algae.

Simple question really.

Can the folks pushing the scare and doom reef rectify this question adequately in terms of physiology? Can they offer detailed dosing to show that this is the case with KNO3 dosing or.........not?

My guess is that most have never even heard of KNO3 dosing.
Let alone a difference between adding KNO3 vs an organic type of Nitrogen.

If they have, then they can talk about it.
If not, they truly speak based on ignorance.

Nothing wrong with being ignorant either, we all are about a great many things.

But a willingness to learn to no longer be ignorant about NO3 dosing is a good thing, simply not doing anythying test wise is, and I feel very strongly about this, a loser's arguement.

You learn nothing accepting such views.
You are expected to accept, not test and see for yourself.
Mere observation alone will only get you so far. At some point testing becomes a very effective method to learn more about things.

You need to test to see what really happens and what is really causing the probelms with the coral or with the macro algae. We all make assumptions, but some are good and some are downright bad.

Recall, many in the FW plant hobby assumed, and a few still do, that high PO4 = algae blooms.

But clearly when you are adding plenty of PO4 and have to algae, it really does not expainl things well as a model.

IME and IMO, most reef folks, like 99%, have little clue as to what specifically causes algae in their tanks.

They are not interested in inducing pest algae, but that is the only decent way to know why, at least one reason, that the pest algae appear in their tanks.

Most are unwilling, and I understand this, to trash their corals for an experiment

But with macros, they bounce back much faster, so they make a much better model to explore such issues.

Of course you need to know hwo to grow them to start with as well.

Regards,
Tom Barr