Despite our scientific knowledge on amino acids and corals, there are no studies that show how dosing concentrated amino acids affects corals. In this perspective, there seems to be uncharted territory for both aquarists and scientists, who can test the effects of concentrated amino acids on coral growth and coloration. Aspartic acid is an interesting candidate to start with, given its important role in organic matrix synthesis and skeletal growth. It is possible that corals which receive a concentrated aspartic acid supplement on a daily basis show faster growth compared to corals fed with zooplankton (which may provide less aspartic acid). The outcome of such an experiment is determined by whether corals fed with zooplankton are growth-limited by their combined internal and external aspartic acid supply. When sufficient amino acids including aspartic acid are available in dissolved or particulate form, it may not matter what the source is. Thus, aquarists who already feed their corals heavily may not see an added effect of concentrated amino acids such as aspartic acid.
For an experiment to have value, it is important to adhere to scientific standards, with sufficient replication and controls for solid conclusions. This means that one would have to use at least two separated aquaria to which amino acids are dosed, with several coral fragments in each aquarium, and at least two additional separate aquaria with fragments from the same parent colony receiving an alternative feed, or no feed at all, as controls to allow for comparison. In addition, all other environmental conditions, such as light intensity and spectrum, water flow rate, and water quality should be highly similar between the four aquaria to prevent confounding effects. Of course, it is possible that different species, and different genotypes (genetically distinct individuals) within species respond differently to concentrated amino acids (Osinga et al. 2011).