Anemone's- share what you have learned: Updated

So It would also be true that lower SG will contain more o2.

 

Too many variables, size of container, enclosed ? Temperature of the water, orignal O2 content........

 

well I was speaking generally, I have no way to test this.

 

Oh I totally get it. We have to make generalizations. It is those hobbyist that think because they have the exception it applies to all situtations that cause the most debate.

 

Salifert makes a DO test kit. It's fairly straightforward in it's use. I'm not sure I would find it necessary unless you're doing a Formalin Dip.

EDIT: by the way, I used the interaction of Oxygen, salinity, and temperature to save a bunch of animals at the store one day. When the power went out, I went to the warehouse to get the generator.....IT WAS GONE!!! OMG, I was in a panick at first and then I realized, OK, I'll put unheated RO/DI water into the tanks. That will cool it off, lower the salinity, and break the surface tension at the water surface and Oxygenate. Basically, it was a three for one solution in terms of keeping the water Oxygenated. I didn't lose a single animal.

 

Funny you mention that I have had to do that 3 times here at my home- I live in tornado alley and the power goes out quite often- I now own a generator. That is why I made mention of lower sg increasing o2, but over a long term I really have no idea. But if the test kit you mention is accurate I will buy one and test my generalization out and see if it's true. Geeze, I think sometimes to be a good reef keeper you need a degree in chemistry and biology, and then another degree in debate.

 

There are charts available that allow you to see that with higher salinity and/or higher temperature, DO goes down. These charts obviously assume there's no living animals respirating. If your tank is overstocked with corals, when the lights go out, that will stop so it's not much of an issue. However, if your tank is overstocked with fish....they still have to breathe whether the power is out or not.

 

Inwall, don't corals respirate (sp?) whether it's day or night time? I thought the primary concern with DO was that when the lights go out, the DO goes down (CO2 goes up, pH gets lower), partially because they stop creating oxygen via zooxanthellae (along with any other photosynthetics in the tank).

Higher SG and/or temperature means less room for the water to dissolve oxygen, for sure. That's why on a FW tank you can pretty much never have a decent amount of surface agitation and be ok, but with a SW tank your stuff would die off.

 

Well I oxengenate my 110 gallon fw tank constantly, this really helps with plant growth, and over all tank health.

That is why when I first got into sw I couldnt, at first, understand how the sw was oxengenated w/o use of some type of air pump or such.

Even today I do not fully understand why you really have no need of air pumps or the like.

I put this out there so that a good (better explanation then I could give) will hopefully be presented.

BTW, did you guys know that protien skimmers were originally invented for fw tanks?

 

I was NOT clear at all. I shouldn't be watching Harry Potter and posting at the same time. Yes, when the lights go out the cyanobacteria (even if they aren't out of control to the point where you can see them, they are there) and the dinoflagellates in there are creating Oxygen. Corals have a VERY different BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) from fish. That's why sometimes people get hitchhiker corals on their live rock purchase.

To put into monetary terms....If I find a coral shipment is going to be delayed due to weather until a very late hour, I'll just pick them up in the morning. If a fish shipment is going to be delayed for the same reason, I'll be acclimating until 2 in the morning.

It's the cyanobacteria and microalgaes providing most of the Oxygen and not the corals.