New Article: Hydrogen Sulfide and the Reef Aquarium

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My December Reefkeeping article has posted:

Hydrogen Sulfide and the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/index.php

the contents:

The Sulfur Cycle for Reef Aquarists
The Nature of Hydrogen Sulfide
The Odor of Hydrogen Sulfide
Stability of Hydrogen Sulfide in Water: Abiotic Oxidation
Stability of Hydrogen Sulfide in Water: Iron Hydroxide Oxidation
Stability of Hydrogen Sulfide in Water: Metal Sulfide Precipitation
Biological Oxidation of Sulfide in Seawater
Hydrogen Sulfide Production
Hydrogen Sulfide in Marine Sediments
Toxicity of Hydrogen Sulfide
Organisms with Special Tolerance to Hydrogen Sulfide
Hydrogen Sulfide in My Reef Aquarium
Hydrogen Sulfide in Other Reef Aquaria
Preventing and Dealing with Hydrogen Sulfide
Summary
References

[Jens Kallmeyer]

HI Randy

Good to see that my thesis was useful at least once. IMO all this crap at the beginning and the end was a major waste of time and took forever to compile and write.

Best wishes

Jens

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, I'm glad you did.

[robitreef]

Hi Randy,

I just finished reading your article in the Dec 2005 Issue concerning Hydrogen sulfide. I have had my aquarium running for seven years and have not encountered any problems with hydrogen sulfide. In my case I had moved about four times during the ownership of this aquarium, so this had disturbed the deep sand as I was taking down and setting up the aquarium in each new place.

Something that I was curious about:

Do you factor in the impact of marine organisms on the deep sand layer? Will burrowing organisms actually aerate the substrate much as earthworms do in terrestrial environments, thereby inhibiting the production of hydrogen sulfide? Or, is this anoxic layer devoid of any life (other then bacteria) that can impact the production of hydrogen sulfide?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sand in the ocean becomes anaerobic even with organisms potentially in it, but they probably do impact where and how quickly it happens.

[Boomer]

Some thing about this article smells, I do not know what it is Nice job Randy and hats off to you Jens

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, Boomer.

[Mike O'Brien]

Originally posted by Boomer
Some thing about this article smells, I do not know what it is

Maybe someones flatus contain's a bit more than 18,000 ppb

Great articl as alway's.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, Mike.

[Mike O'Brien]

LOL couldn't resist, that one was just too easy.

[tsquad]

I'm not sure if I've got metal sulfides in my sandbed...I've got a question for you.

I had coralline at the very bottom of the front of my tank, and when I made my DSB (used to have SSB), the coralline died, obviously, as it was covered by the sand. Now, where the coralline is dying, it looks black. Could that be a metal sulfide?

edit: The DSB has only been setup for two weeks, the tank's been up for a year. My original sand is still in the tank, on the bottom, and I just added more sand on top of that.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, the black areas around the dead coralline might have some metal sulfide deposits. It's hard in this setting, but smelling it is one of the best ways to tell.

[tsquad]

Thanks Randy...its not too far down, so I will just scoop some out and smell. Now, are metal sulfides dangerous like H2S?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

They are not as much of a concern once precipitated, but they are an indication that there is sulfide present that is dangerous.

[reefclown]

lovely poetic piece, much needed.

For your next project It would be great if you could write up an independant unbiased perspective/review on the phosphate remover tests being done by Andrew in the UK

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks.

I'm not familiar with those tests, but I do plan to do my own:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=721879

[reefclown]

There maybe some benefits in working with Andrew,

here's the link


http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/i...howtopic=50796

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the link. That study is very similar to what I am planning to do, although there are some differences. When his results come out, I'd be happy to comment on them.

[tsquad]

Hey Randy, the black stuff is starting to go away...weird. Maybe that was just the color that coralline makes when it dies.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, going away is good, whatever it is.