Ken Griffith
New member
Hello Randy!
I have been very impressed with your articles on calcium and alkalinity - a complex subject that is difficult to master.
I realize that you are not a biologist, but perhaps you can weigh in on a question that I have not seen directly addressed elsewhere.
The process of precipitating calcium carbonate leaves a residue of 2 H+ ions. In theory corals should have to work to pump the H+ ions out of their body. Likewise, it would seem that large scale deposition of CaCo3 would cause a substantial drop in pH, whether at sea or in the aquarium.
What prevents this predicted pH drop from occurring around coral reefs? Or perhaps more to the point, what prevents pH from dropping in the open ocean when you have a heavy bloom of carbonate shell diatoms?
Is it possible that photosynthesis in the zoozanthellea is taking up the extra H+ ions as a cheap way to get hydrogens without having to split a water molecule?
Or put conversely, does the process of photosynthesis inside stony corals dump the excess oxygen into Calcium Carbonate deposition instead of dumping it into the surrounding water?
Thanks,
Ken Griffith
I have been very impressed with your articles on calcium and alkalinity - a complex subject that is difficult to master.
I realize that you are not a biologist, but perhaps you can weigh in on a question that I have not seen directly addressed elsewhere.
The process of precipitating calcium carbonate leaves a residue of 2 H+ ions. In theory corals should have to work to pump the H+ ions out of their body. Likewise, it would seem that large scale deposition of CaCo3 would cause a substantial drop in pH, whether at sea or in the aquarium.
What prevents this predicted pH drop from occurring around coral reefs? Or perhaps more to the point, what prevents pH from dropping in the open ocean when you have a heavy bloom of carbonate shell diatoms?
Is it possible that photosynthesis in the zoozanthellea is taking up the extra H+ ions as a cheap way to get hydrogens without having to split a water molecule?
Or put conversely, does the process of photosynthesis inside stony corals dump the excess oxygen into Calcium Carbonate deposition instead of dumping it into the surrounding water?
Thanks,
Ken Griffith
