marine bio coral project

[Alex's Nano Reef]

so i am a junior in high school and at my school there is a marine bio program. im in the honors category of this which means i get to do independent experiment. we have 2 fluval sea evo 5 aoi tanks, both are cycled and already have coral in them. we have some zoas and 2 colonies of cyphastrea(which arent doing well, the cyphastrea.) i am gonna be observing the effects of increased dissolved co2 on the coral and their net calcification and net growth. we will be doing our best to keep the ph,alk,and calcium at the ideal levels for reef aquarium while dosing co2. if any of you have any tips or tricks or ideas about the tanks or how to keep ca,alk,ph stable while dosing dissolved co2...

Thanks,
Alex Marsky

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This is a fine experiment, with some caveats.

Well, first, you cannot independently control CO2, alkalinity, and pH. They are exactly related mathematically.

So if you have fixed alkalinity and add CO2, the pH must drop. pH is how I'd measure CO2 in the water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do you plan to have two tanks, one a control and one with elevated CO2/lower pH?

If so, you may need to have then in different rooms with different CO2 levels in the air. Otherwise, CO2 bubbled into one tank will go to the air then enter the second tank, reducing its pH and increasing its CO2 (although likely not as much).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What sort of rock is that? I'm curious why it is yellow.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How are you going to measure calcification by corals, and potentially separate it from abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate on pumps, sand, etc? Higher CO2 will reduce or stop this abiotic precipitation, and it might appear to be reducing coral calcification when in reality it may be a purely nonbiological effect. A tank with no corals but otherwise identical would help understand the magnitude of that impact.

Sorry to be multiplying your control variables.

 

[sde1500]

Looks more like rock used for freshwater. Dunno

As for the other stuff, too sciencey, I'll leave that to the guy running up his post count above me

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As for the other stuff, too sciencey, I'll leave that to the guy running up his post count above me

It's not the post count that matters. It's the accuracy. lol

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What sort of rock is that? I'm curious why it is yellow.

Looks more like rock used for freshwater. Dunno

As for the other stuff, too sciencey, I'll leave that to the guy running up his post count above me

IME is an odd precursor to purple corraline algae formation. From what I've researched it should just come in purple, but 99% of the time the green appears first om dry rock and cured non wild live rock.

 

[money88]

"Hey I am starting an experiment on reef chemistry"

In strolls Randy...

Experiment over

All joking aside haha, it is awesome to see people choosing to do experiments with the hobby they love. And Randy glad to see that you care enough to assist in the accuracy to help others learn something out of the experiment.

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

alright boys i was very busy this week that is why iu havent replied.. just bare with me

Thanks

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

This is a fine experiment, with some caveats.

Well, first, you cannot independently control CO2, alkalinity, and pH. They are exactly related mathematically.

So if you have fixed alkalinity and add CO2, the pH must drop. pH is how I'd measure CO2 in the water.

i belive on a larger scale this is true but in a small system however it might be possible to regulate...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

i belive on a larger scale this is true but in a small system however it might be possible to regulate...

Huh? pH, alkalinity, and CO2 are EXACTLY mathematically related in a short period of time (the time it takes for the CO2 to hydrate or dehydrate to carbonic acid, or the reverse). There is no possible way to add CO2 and not have pH decline.

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

Huh? pH, alkalinity, and CO2 are EXACTLY mathematically related in a short period of time (the time it takes for the CO2 to hydrate or dehydrate to carbonic acid, or the reverse). There is no possible way to add CO2 and not have pH decline.

can u link me to somewhere that i can read about this.. so i can understand it better.??

 

[Brew12]

can u link me to somewhere that i can read about this.. so i can understand it better.??

Here is an article he wrote that explains it very well.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/

 

[Pola0502ds]

What school are you with? Is the Marine Bio Program something you get credit for? That is awesome! I manage a reef tank for a local elementary school and my goal is to get a reef tank in each school so kids can see a reef tank from kindergarten through their senior year. I would love to see a course like this developed. Does your school have a webpage with info on this program? The principle that has the reef tank does so much with it and the students, its just amazing. When election time came and all the parents had to vote for a new president, the entire school voted on what new fish to add to the tank. So you can use the fish tank to touch on many different areas of education.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This one details it too:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: The Relationship Between Alkalinity And pH ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2002/chem.htm

from it:

Figure 2. The theoretical relationship between carbonate alkalinity and pH for seawater in equilibrium for preindustrial air (green; 278 ppm carbon dioxide), current air (blue; 350 ppm carbon dioxide) and possible future air (red; 700 ppm carbon dioxide) using equations 2 and 3.