algae help :(
- Thread starter nyuu
- Start date
davesolo29
Super Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2012
- Location
- Kitchener, Ontario
KBennett link said:[quote author=nyuu link=topic=7378.msg76114#msg76114 date=1389136761]
nitrates are 0 but im out of phosfate testershave to wait till end of the month. i spend $300 on boxing day on the tank and im broke now
Are you saying that you bought this tank 2 weeks ago?
[/quote]
I was wondering the same thing. But first post says he got it at frag fest.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
pulpfiction1
Reef Scavenger
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Location
- 42.418807, -82.174073
hmmmmm.............
nyuu
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2011
- Location
- london ontario
to clear up confusion i bought the tank at frAG FEST, BUT I DIDNT START THEN I MOVED FROM A BIGGER TANK TO THE NEW ONE. the stuff i got on boxing day was some new rock fish and frags anyway i did a 3 day black out and it appears to be gone guess ill find out.
anyway i did a 3 day black out and it appears to be gone guess ill find out.Boga
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2012
- Location
- Dorchester, Ontario
Nyuu - Glad to hear that they cleared up. I hope they are gone. Any update?
First of all I would like to apologize to nyuu for hijacking his thread with the things below.
Thank you for info. Indeed there are dinos that are feeding or using iron in their "diet". With over 2000 species of dinoflagellates, I won't be surprised that some of them enjoy the red stuff. At least I believe little bit in this theory. I would like to add that GFO may lower the pH and if I remember correctly dinos like lower pH.
I totally agree that the Iron Oxide (Fe[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub]) is a very stable oxide and in normal conditions it would keep the state. It does require a lot of energy to be transformed to Iron.
I think that a saltwater tank is a very complex system, where simple chemistry is left behind. Bacteria and other micro-organism can play a big role in various transformations, maybe even converting small amounts of decanted GFO into soluble iron. The multitude of chemical and biochemical possible reactions are uncountable.
I think that GFO is mainly Iron Oxide Hydroxide - FeO(OH) (Reference 1). Even if there are traces of metallic iron in the GFO, I am sure that it would be converted to iron oxides Fe[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub], FeO(OH) or Fe(OH)[sub]3[/sub] as soon as they see the water from rinsing.
Studies show that addition of GFO would increase the iron in saltwater (Reference 2). The truth is that most of the iron is not available (as soluble) and is in its original ferric form, which means it is still part of the Ferric Oxide (Hydroxide). This could be a result of fine grindings from the reactor or insufficient rinsing prior to addition. As a note, their report does not explain why the iron concentration is reduced after 20 hours. My bet would be that these fine particles are going into sediments at the bottom of the tank or sponge filters. Please note that they do not run a full system, with rocks, algae, fish, corals, etc.
In Reference 3, Randy H-F said that the GFO may add soluble iron to the system, but he does not explain how much and how it is done. Similar discussions in Reference 4. Probably there are no studies to date to quantify this concept. The soluble iron can feed algae and why not, dinoflagellates. These are the few reasons because I believe that GFO can somehow boost dinoflagellates growth.
Reference 1 - Iron Oxide Hydroxide (GFO) Phosphate Binders by Randy Holmes-Farley
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/
Reference 2 - Effects of GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) on 'Trace' Metals Concentrations in Artificial Seawater by Dana Riddle
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/2/chemistry
Reference 3 - Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/
Reference 4 - Iron uptake by Algae in seawater (RC forum)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2167628
First of all I would like to apologize to nyuu for hijacking his thread with the things below.
Salty Cracker link said:
Thank you for info. Indeed there are dinos that are feeding or using iron in their "diet". With over 2000 species of dinoflagellates, I won't be surprised that some of them enjoy the red stuff. At least I believe little bit in this theory. I would like to add that GFO may lower the pH and if I remember correctly dinos like lower pH.
Pistol link said:
I totally agree that the Iron Oxide (Fe[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub]) is a very stable oxide and in normal conditions it would keep the state. It does require a lot of energy to be transformed to Iron.
I think that a saltwater tank is a very complex system, where simple chemistry is left behind. Bacteria and other micro-organism can play a big role in various transformations, maybe even converting small amounts of decanted GFO into soluble iron. The multitude of chemical and biochemical possible reactions are uncountable.
I think that GFO is mainly Iron Oxide Hydroxide - FeO(OH) (Reference 1). Even if there are traces of metallic iron in the GFO, I am sure that it would be converted to iron oxides Fe[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub], FeO(OH) or Fe(OH)[sub]3[/sub] as soon as they see the water from rinsing.
Studies show that addition of GFO would increase the iron in saltwater (Reference 2). The truth is that most of the iron is not available (as soluble) and is in its original ferric form, which means it is still part of the Ferric Oxide (Hydroxide). This could be a result of fine grindings from the reactor or insufficient rinsing prior to addition. As a note, their report does not explain why the iron concentration is reduced after 20 hours. My bet would be that these fine particles are going into sediments at the bottom of the tank or sponge filters. Please note that they do not run a full system, with rocks, algae, fish, corals, etc.
In Reference 3, Randy H-F said that the GFO may add soluble iron to the system, but he does not explain how much and how it is done. Similar discussions in Reference 4. Probably there are no studies to date to quantify this concept. The soluble iron can feed algae and why not, dinoflagellates. These are the few reasons because I believe that GFO can somehow boost dinoflagellates growth.
Reference 1 - Iron Oxide Hydroxide (GFO) Phosphate Binders by Randy Holmes-Farley
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/
Reference 2 - Effects of GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) on 'Trace' Metals Concentrations in Artificial Seawater by Dana Riddle
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/2/chemistry
Reference 3 - Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/
Reference 4 - Iron uptake by Algae in seawater (RC forum)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2167628