Reef Chemistry Question of the Day Archive

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm collecting all of the questions of the day here for easy access or for folks who missed earlier ones.

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #268 Gemstones in the Reef Tank?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #267 Charge on the Surface of Your Glass Aquarium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #266 Calcite vs Aragonite

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #265 Potency of Alkalinity Supplements

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #264 Temperature and Refractometers

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #263 Conductivity of Limewater/Kalkwasser

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #262 Oxygen in a Shipping Bag

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #261 DIY Heat Pack

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #260 Loss of Elements by Evaporation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #259 The Incredible Feedback Loops of Reef Chemistry

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #258 Balling Sodium Chloride-Free Salt

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #256 Evaporation Rate Fresh vs Salt

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #255 Oxygen Depletion in the Air

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #254 Carbon Dioxide Formation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #253 Purity, what does it mean?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #252 Raising Salinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #251 Ways to Measure Salinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #250 Precipitate on Dosing

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #249 ICP Works How?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #248 Sea Urchin Spines

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #247 Organic vs Inorganic Carbon

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #246 Ions in Calcium Chloride

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #245 Osmosis

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #244 Imbalanced Dosing and Salt Mixes

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #243 Iodine in Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #242 Density of a gas vs a liquid

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #241 How Many Water Molecules Between the Ions in Seawater?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #240 Conversion of CO2 to O2

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #239 Evaporation of DIY NOPOX

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #238 Electrons in Ions

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #237 Trace Element Riddle

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #236 Additive Math

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #235 The Sad Element

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #234 Elements in Dissolved Organic Material

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #233 Purigen Binds Which Inorganic Ions?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #232 Black Deposits in Sand

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #231 Stability of Polyethylene

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #230 Osmoregulation by Marine Fish

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #229 Electricity in water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #228 Ions and TDS

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #227 Math of Light Absdorption

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #226 Solubility of Calcium Carbonate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #225 Effect of Additives of Alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #224 Additive Solubility

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #223 Hydrophobic Molecule

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #222 Calcium is to Magnesium as...

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #221 Bleach is to chlorine gas as...

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #220 Which Methods Add Trace Elements?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #219 How Does a Calcium Carbonate/Carbon Dioxide Reactor Work?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #218 Vodka and Refractometers

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 217 Elements and Specific Gravity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 216 Seawater Barometer

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 215 Metals in Chlorophyll

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 214 Two Part Additive Systems

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 213 Evaporation and Other Gases

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 212 Dissolved Oxygen and Helium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 211 ORP and Additives

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 210 Limewater/Kalkwasser Long Term Use

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 209 Weight of Salt Water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 208 Suspended vs Surface bacteria

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 207 Allotropes in the Reef Aquarium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 206 The "ate" suffix

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 205 Magnesium Supplement

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 204 Alkalinity Testing

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 203 Effect of Using Nitrate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 202 Silica accumulating organisms

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 201 Offgassing of reef tanks

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 200 Calcification and The Big Three Parameters

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 199 Trace element form

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 198 Magnesium Consumption

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 197 Boiling Point of Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 196 What happens to carbon dioxide in the ocean?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 195 Alkalinity Additives

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 194 Low ORP in New Salt Water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 193 Membrane Penetration

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 192 Cycling and Alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 191 Settling of Organic Dosing Compounds

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 190 Evaporation and TDS

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 188 Dr Who and Evaporation 2!

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 187 Dr Who and Evaporation!

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 186 Magnesium Supplements

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 185 Macroalgae and Nutrient Uptake

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 184 Precipitating Additives


Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 183 A Supersaturated Organic Molecule in the Ocean

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 182 Soda Water and Reef Tanks

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 181 Weather and Reef Tanks

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 180 Lugols iodine

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 179 Refractometer ATC

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 178 Limewater (Kalkwasser) Cloudiness

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 177 Ethanol Refractometer

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 176 Colors of chemicals

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 175 Ion Concentration

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 174 pH Buffering

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 173 Dissolved Gases in Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 172 Phosphate on Calcium Carbonate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 171 Sodium Hydroxide Dosing

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 170 Atomic Weight

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 169 Reactions of Ozone

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 168 Iron

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 167 General Hardness

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 166 Organic Carbon Dosing

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 165 Salinity of Skimmate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 164 TDS and Ions

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 163 Unknown Molecule

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 162 Calcium Carbonate Precipitation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 161 Using a Syringe

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 160 Reading a Floating Glass Hydrometer

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 159 Measuring Volume

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 158 Iron in the Ocean

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 157 Limewater/kalkwasser

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 156 Sea Urchin Color

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 154 Ion Abundance

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 153 Limewater (kalkwasser)

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 152 Feel of Water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 151 Yellow Tang Coloration

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 150 Evaporation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 148 Surface Area

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 147 Heat Dissipation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 146 Solubility as a Function of Temperature

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 145 Alkalinity Effects of Chemicals

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 144 What makes the oceany smell?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 143 RO Membrane Rejection

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 142 Food Sources of N and P

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 141 Magnesium Solubility

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 140 Total Alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 139 Organic Molecules

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 138 Teaspoons and Tablespoons

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 137 Bicarbonate Concentration

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 136 Diffusion of oxygen in water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 135 Speed of diffusion of molecules

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 134 Speed of molecules

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 133 pH effect of ions

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 132 Ions in Potato Chips

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 131 Floating Glass Hydrometer

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 130 Portuguese Man-of-War

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 129 Strontium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 128 Elements in Polyethylene

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 127 Halides in metal halide lamps

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 126 Aluminum Oxide

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 125 Coral Skeleton Dissolution

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 124 Units of measure

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 123 Party Effect on Aquariums

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 122 Calcium Supplement

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 121 Alkalinity and mixing

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 120 Nitrate and water change

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 119 Limewater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 118 Carbonate species

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 117 Sodium and Chloride in Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 116 Nitrite structure

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 114 GFO and CaCO3 precipitation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 114 Sea Urchins

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 113 Calcium and Alkalinity in One Additive

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 112 Skimming

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 111 Ozone Chemistry

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 110 Dolomite

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 109 CaCO3/CO2 Reactors

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 108 Two Part Recipe

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 107 Halides

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 106 Water Concentration

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 105 Limitation of Algae Growth

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 104 Alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 103 Water Change Efficiency

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 102 Organic Compound Definition

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 101 Bicarbonate/carbonate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 100 Chemicals that impact ORP

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 99 TDS

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 98 RO Membrane Penetration

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 97 Potential Depletion Rates

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 96 Calcium Carbonate Solubility

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 95 Surface Ocean Depletion

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 94 Calcium and Alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 93 Element Ratios

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 92 Hydrogen Sulfide

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 91 Baking Soda 3

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 90 Baking Soda 2

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 89 Nanotanks

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 88 Baking Soda 1

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 87 Phosphate and water changes

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 86 Deionizing resins

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 85 Units of mixing

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 84 CaCO3/CO2 reactors

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 83 Carbonate Ion Pairs

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 82 Heavy Elements

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 81 Conductivity of Pure Water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 80 pH

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 79 Magnesium Supplements

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 78 Sodium Silicate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 77 Calcium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 76 Halides

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 75 Precipitation of Calcium Carbonate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 74 Frozen Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 73 Altitude 2: pH

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 72 Altitude 1: oxygen

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 71 Thanksgiving Edition

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 70 Calcium and Alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 69 Lysocline

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 68 Water Changes and Sump Size

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 67 Evaporation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 66 pH and Ions

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 65 Refractometer and Ion Imbalances

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 64 Lugol's Iodine

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 63 Gas Exchange 4 CO2 and the Superbowl

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 62 Gas Exchange 3 Photosynthesis

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 61 Gas Exchange 2

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 60 Gas Exchange 1

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 59 Soda water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 58 Molecular Weight

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 57 Limewater (kalkwasser)

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 56 Fluoride mg/L = ? ppm

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 55 Salinity Rise from Calcium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 54 Denitrification

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 53 Boron

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 52 Chemical Evaporation

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 51 Ion analogy

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 50 Dolomite

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 49 Micro unit

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 48 Epsom Salt

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 47 Ion Abundance

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 46 General Hardness

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 45 Brain Teaser on Salt Solutions

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 44 ppm-N units

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 43 pH and Mixing

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 42 GFO

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 41 dKH word origin

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 40 Water weight

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 39 pH of Hydroxides

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 38 Concentrated Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 37 RO/DI

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 36 Pure Calcium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 35 Mollusk Teeth

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 34 Limewater (kalkwasser)

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 33 Calcium Carbonate Solubility

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 32 Precipitate

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 31 Hyposalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 30 Chemical Layering

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 29 Hydrometer

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 28 Toxic?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 27 ‰

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 26 Hydrogen Sulfide 2

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 25 Hydrogen Sulfide 1

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 24 Calcium Concentration

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 23 Sea Urchin Spines

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 22 Calcium Carbonate Solubility

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 21 Reverse Osmosis Membranes

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 20 Ozone

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 19 Buffering Capacity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 18 Magnesium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 17 Alkalinity Definition

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 16 Where does the salt in the ocean come from?

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 15 The specific gravity of seawater is...

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 14 Alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 13 Light Absorption by Water

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 12 Ammonia in Shipping vs Aquarium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 11 Iodine Forms

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 10 Negatively Charged ions in Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 9 Surface Scum on Limewater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 8 Boosting Magnesium

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 7 Magnesium in Limewater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 6 Phosphate Forms

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 5 Refractometer

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 4 Salinity Rise with Two Part

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 3 Positively Charged Ions

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 2 Four Most Abundant Ions in Seawater

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 1 Vodka vs Vinegar

 

[beaslbob]

What next?
A running results post. LOL

thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This space reserved for additional questions

 

[Rogue Snail]

Hello
I removed 2/3 of my live rock a few weeks ago and noticed a jump in my Alk by 2 points .
It was all pucani ,didn't have much coraline on it .
Why did my alk jump from 9.8 to 11.8?
Was the rock bad? didn't smell bad.
93gl cube with 40gl sump about 25 large frags of sps.

 

[Rogue Snail]

How can I test for AL , a friend of mine has symptoms of AL poisoning in his system .
I tried color change poly-filter , just putting a strip of it in his overflow to see if it turns red.
Is there a test for reef aquariums.

 

[Rogue Snail]

he's been using marine pure ceramic balls in his 50gl tank

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Only way I know of is by ICP, such as Triton.

 

[Hadad]

Hello,
Thanks to dear Randy,
I'm from iran, and i have a 200 gallon reef tank with 18 Tang fish and 40 reefs.
I don't use vinegar's dosage in main tank, because of Tang fish are very sensitive.
There is a separate 50 gallon reservoir from main tank, that it circulate 1 time everey 24 hours. (a large Denitrator)
Using vinegar and decrease of nitrate and phosphate done in this reservoir.
I'm satisfy with the reservoir and vinegar's performance, and nitrate and phosphate are zero by sulfur test.
This problem is :
A white_brown algae (mulm) has been grown in reservoir, and if it doesn't clean, it will be close all the coming and going water way from main tank to reservoir.
The decrease of vinegar's dosage will be caused algae's progress slow down, but a little nitrate will be raised.
Bio_mulm slow down algae's growing, but it is expensive.
What's easy and cheap solution for destroy this algae?
Thank you.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Adding vinegar drives bacterial growth. It must grow somewhere, and in this case, is growing in the reservoir. I'm not sure it is best to get rid of it, but removing some by manual removal is certainly fine.

 

[Hadad]

Thank you Randy for your suggestion,
Is there any substitute material instead of Bio_mate?
(like "vingar" instead of "Zeo start 3")

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you Randy for your suggestion,
Is there any substitute material instead of Bio_mate?
(like "vingar" instead of "Zeo start 3")

Unfortunately, zeovit often does not describe its products well enough to clearly substitute.

 

[Bobbi Munoz]

Nitrates are 160 but phosphate is low how is this? I also need help I run on a well and ro-di unit not an option my tea is 35 is this too high? Will it get better is i get a skimmer.
This is my per.
Tds 35
Nitrates 160
Phosphates 0.25
Kh 161.1
Calcium 480
New too hobby please help

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Nitrates are 160 but phosphate is low how is this? I also need help I run on a well and ro-di unit not an option my tea is 35 is this too high? Will it get better is i get a skimmer.
This is my per.
Tds 35
Nitrates 160
Phosphates 0.25
Kh 161.1
Calcium 480
New too hobby please help

Please start a different thread.

 

[TokenReefer]

Where's the latest 'Reef Chemistry Question of The Day' ? It'd be great if it was pinned somewhere

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’ve not updated this thread recently, but if you search on reef chemistry question of the day and order them be date, you should get a whole list.

I’ve switched over to reef chemistry puzzles in the last few months.