Coral science fair

[PokeFish]

Here's how I did the iodine/macroalgae study I mentioned to see how one might do something similar:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine In Reef Tanks 2: Effects On Macroalgae Growth

Randy discusses how iodine affects iodine growth in his aquarium.

reefs.com

and here's how I tested the impact of aluminum on corals at different aluminum concentrations:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Aluminum In The Reef Aquarium

In this article I will give some details of aluminum in natural seawater, and will discuss the sparse literature on the toxicity of aluminum ions to marine organisms.

reefs.com

This is very interesting. Has the same experiment been done with soft corals?

Also how did you test aluminum levels in the second experiment? This gave me the idea of looking at the affects of microplastics on coral growth, but I don't know of a way of measuring the microplastic concentration

 

[PokeFish]

Raw seawater likely will not support coral growth since it won't have the needed N and P in it, unless you add them.

It also has other differences that may not be optimal. Most notably is lack of bacteria and lack of organics to bind trace elements.

Ron Shimek found that copper in new Instant Ocean was far more toxic than the same amount of copper in reef tank water. He only believed my after he tested it for himself. lol

I could always use the water from my water change

 

[PokeFish]

Perhaps I could try measuring the affect of iodine dosages on the injured coral?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This is very interesting. Has the same experiment been done with soft corals?

Also how did you test aluminum levels in the second experiment? This gave me the idea of looking at the affects of microplastics on coral growth, but I don't know of a way of measuring the microplastic concentration

No, and it would be very interesting, IMO, to do so since iodine is not known to be needed by most soft corals, despite the fact that many reefers seem to find it useful.

But they grow more slowly than macroalgae.

For aluminum, I used ICP (way too expensive for you in this setting since you do not have one available) for the background coupled with the known amount being added.

For microplastics, I'd just use a baseline assumption of low/none added, and look at the effects of adding known amounts, but the results will definitely relate to the type of microplastic size, shape, composition) and I'm not sure what is commercially available at reasonable cost for you to use. The results will also depend on whether the coral is able to feed on them, or doesn't feed on particulates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I could always use the water from my water change

That's what I did to supply low iodine water, then supplement one group and not the other.

 

[jda]

Here is probably a really easy experiment that you could get done in 3 months with visible results that don't need much nuance from the fair goers. Get a healthy "weed" type of chalice, monti, etc. from somebody local. Make an even number of frags. This is the same coral from with the same history - control. Make more than 2 frags in case some die.

Put half of them under just blue light for 3 months. Put the other half under a 10k type of spectrum. At the end of 3 months, change both lights to a 14-20k type of spectrum and observe the difference.

You will have to choose corals with a few different colors and probably stonies. Something like GSP will not care about this, but many other corals will.

Look for some Miami Hurricanes chalice, superman montipora or something like that. If you are anywhere near a big city, somebody will have a bunch that they need to get rid of.

In a coral-only system, the "juice" from frozen food is a good thing to get corals a bit of building blocks to sustain them. Just know that coral systems without fish are not all that easy.

 

[jda]

If you do the light experiment, then all that you need to type up is that light used to illuminate corals and make them look good is not the same as the light that need to actually make those colors.

I refer to blue light as makeup, spank, hair extensions and getting all glammed up. White light is exercise, diet, skin care, etc. Both together is the ultimate, but if you slack off on the diet, exercise and skin care, then no about of glamming will do much anymore.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Here is probably a really easy experiment that you could get done in 3 months with visible results that don't need much nuance from the fair goers. Get a healthy "weed" type of chalice, monti, etc. from somebody local. Make an even number of frags. This is the same coral from with the same history - control. Make more than 2 frags in case some die.

Put half of them under just blue light for 3 months. Put the other half under a 10k type of spectrum. At the end of 3 months, change both lights to a 14-20k type of spectrum and observe the difference.

You will have to choose corals with a few different colors and probably stonies. Something like GSP will not care about this, but many other corals will.

Look for some Miami Hurricanes chalice, superman montipora or something like that. If you are anywhere near a big city, somebody will have a bunch that they need to get rid of.

In a coral-only system, the "juice" from frozen food is a good thing to get corals a bit of building blocks to sustain them. Just know that coral systems without fish are not all that easy.

Ok, so I get that chaliace is an incredibly undescriptive category that contains dozens of coral, some of which aren't even closely related. BUT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP CALLING MONTI CAPS "CHALICE"!

 

[PokeFish]

If you do the light experiment, then all that you need to type up is that light used to illuminate corals and make them look good is not the same as the light that need to actually make those colors.

I refer to blue light as makeup, spank, hair extensions and getting all glammed up. White light is exercise, diet, skin care, etc. Both together is the ultimate, but if you slack off on the diet, exercise and skin care, then no about of glamming will do much anymore.

cool thanks for the help!

I got a list of corals someone has... any of these stand out as an ideal candidate for an experiment?
green digi, orange setosa, tubbs stellata, purple stylo, green acro, and some milliporas.

 

[jda]

Tubbs Steletta. It has a few different colors. It is a pretty easy coral to grow too.