new article ideas?

Randy Holmes-Farley

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
Premium Member
I might have some time on my hands to write more articles in the near future. I just finished submitting one on certain phosphate issues relating to foods and other phosphate sources.

Anyone have ideas for other topics they'd like to see? Probably not things that require a lot of experimentation (like tests to see if adding X to a reef tank makes Y coral grow faster), but issues you think are poorly understood by folks?

TIA
 
Hey Randy, where and when is your newest article available? Are you looking for ideas for a newbie article or more advanced? I think people still have a hard time grasping the idea that a test kit can read close to 0 phosphates and still have huge algae blooms in a tank because of uptake. Maybe that's just beating a dead horse though.
 
Thanks, that's a good idea. :)

The article I mentioned will be published in Advanced Aquarist before too long (not sure on the exact date).
 
C:N:P relation with regards to different C sources ?

but I guess that would be purely based on experiements which you arent looking for. I have a list of ideas at home lol will post it.

by the way, did you ever experiemnt with the Sponge in sump ? id be interested to knwo how that turned out too :)

We are lucky to have you Randy :)
 
Yep I have one. I debate that small to medium infestations of algae pull phosphate out of solution such that it can't be measured but originally could have if the algae hadn't 'uptaken' it. its my guess the tiny bit of algae uptakes such a trivial amount the usual test kits won't detect that difference in either nitrate or phosphate. I wish there was a way to test that! an elementary test Im always hitting people up to perform is to get two sample cups that register zero P03/water on a given kit, add a tuft of algae to one, cover both, let sit for two weeks or until dead in a dark setting and see if the treated cup registers phosphate. Dont know if thats a fair start but I looked for actual test threads on the matter and didnt find any
 
any time I see an algae thread with even the slightest amount of low profile GHA growth thats the blanket statement mentioned. Now for these wrecked forest tanks I might buy it, but a few bad pieces of LR with some lettuce on it just doesnt seem like an accurate catch all statement. Id love to know the actual phosphate content of some dessicated GHA samples.
 
Circadian rhythm , light/dark cycle; changes in calcification, metabolism, hormones etc.

Moonlight; influence of wavelength on hormonal values.

There are various publications on those subjects for corals.
 
The peroxide thing has been getting a lot of attention lately. I think it would be cool if you weighed in on that.
 
some fascinating elements might be interspecific tolerances among inverts which is amazingly consistent among tanks now that so many are treating with a fairly similar approach

lysmata cleaners die in the weakest possible dilution of it

coral bandeds can take direct contact for quite some time without problems, even higher dilutions into their surroundings without adverse effects

they are complemented in ways the lysmatas are not, degradational enzymes etc?
 
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brandon, I believe that's a verbose way of asking "why do certain species of shrimp die when peroxide is added to the tank and others don't ?"

To generalize it more..."how do invertebrates react to peroxide?"

I think Randy was asking for topics that didn't involve experimentation.
 
This might require more time and research than you were looking for but -

Bacterial Additive comparison, with and without carbon dosing. Microbacter vs Zeowhatever vs Dr. Tims etc...

Impact on Nitrates
Impact on Phosphates
Bacteria as food-source
Value in speeding tank cycling

It might be difficult to standardize benefits and measure efficacy, and you'd probably avoid the subjectivity of coloration, but I think many would be interested in your findings.

The same head-to-head could be applied to bio-pellets (sans the cycling)
 
It's covered in threads here, but how about a summary of rock "cooking" and cleaning.

Bleach soak vs muratic acid soak vs simply cooking in saltwater. Which is good for what goals - in a nice and tidy Randy article format.
 
How about a more advanced discussion of nitrification?

People had big trickle filters for a long time because it was believed that we needed to provide surface area for massive colonies of nitrifying bacteria. Then it was observed that reef tanks did just fine without them and people started packing their tanks with upwards of two lb/gal of rock thinking it was necessary to grow that same colony. A lot of those tanks have similar problems to the trickle filter tanks because there's no way to keep them clean. Now there are plenty of minimalist tanks with very little live rock and they still don't seem to have any issues with nitrification either. Some people talk about it occuring in biofilms that can quickly cover both living and inert surfaces, but there appears to be debate here. I would like to read a more modern/technical treatment of the topic compared to all the oversimplified beginner articles out there.
 
A revisit of the ills on water chemistry of not doing water changes if you're adding lots of 2 part,( 3 part, Balling) with a spreadsheet attachment that you uses inputs of starting SG, amount Ca/alk added per day, water change frequency that calculates salinity in 6 months, a years time.

Peroxide would be good.

DOC's in tankwater and their ill effects (particularly those that are slow to mineralise to ammonia, and cause yellowing in tank water)
 
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