Boy that was allot to read at one sitting
I was scrolling and hoping someone would post Eric's articles. Thanks Curt
I might add that is was a well done article by Eric.
To be short
Don.
Pure O2 in a reactor is an absolute no-no. I would not worry about the redox but the O2 going to high. One would have to have an O2 monitor to run such a system to be safe. Second you do not need a reactor with pure O2. A reactor would make it worse, two-fold. 1. allot of mixing. 2. increasing the pressure just by itself increases O2. The higher the psi inside the reactor the more O2 is forced into the water. O3 does almost nothing for increasing O2, until all things are oxidized. Even then, often the O3 just remains O3. The reason behind degassing towers in some aquatic systems using O3. O2 / CO2 skimmer gas thing. You are partially right. It revolves more around the partial pressures of CO2 vs. O2, in water and in the air. They are very different.
Sara
What I'd like to know/understand is why the oxygen levels fall so much at night in tanks but not in the open ocean. In other words, this chart interests me:
For the same reason your pH goes up during the day and down during the night, due to CO2. "Plants" are giving off O2 during the day and consuming O2 at night.
Oceans ? Look at the animal/plant density /unit volume of water in a tank vs. the ocean
Herefishyfishy
Skimmers are the most efficient means to keep up O2. Plunging water is another one but it will not out compete a good skimmer, unless you want to deal with salt sray everywhere. Air stones do work, they just are not as efficient as say a skimmer. When bubbles are generated and rise to the surface three things happen.
1. The formation of the bubble creates a micro-pressure around it, kinda like a mini O2 reactor, which drives O2 into the water.
2. As the bubble rises there is a gas exchange between the bubble and the water, due to diffusion, O2 out CO2 in. The smaller the bubble the more surface area/unit vol and the slower the rise, thus more gas exchange place.
3. As the bubble breaks at the surface it breaks the surface tension and causes water motion/agitation, thus the more O2.
steve-s
Error Bud
You can saturate water with all the O2 you want but if it has too much CO2, the pH won't budge. "the pH will crash"
O2 in the reef tank
I do not think for the most part it is a concern, as most tanks have acceptable levels. I have often stated and have bad debates about saturated O2 levels in reef tanks, in which case I argued they are usually not. People just assume it is saturated. And each time I ask, based on what measurements have you done, the thread seems to stop. Eric's article proves my point, that few tanks are 100 % saturated. I spent years playing with O2 measurements in FW and Seawater with a kit that test to .02 ppm O2.
There are only 2 kits out there that are worth a dam. The LaMotte, which tests to .1 ppm and one yon can afford and is good enough and the master for O2 kits, the HACH Digital Titrator for the tune of $200, that test to .02 ppm O2. Most cheap meters are useless, as they do not have adjustments or compensate for Salinity and Altitude.
If you are just wondering what is 100% saturation in your tank there is a std equation for this. You need to know your tank temp, salintiy and have a barometer
S¹= S x p¹/ 29.92 - ( C X F)
S¹= Solubility of O2 for Corrected Pressure
p¹= Barometeric Pressure (Barometer reading in inches)
S = Solubility of Distilled Water (from table, 8.2@25C & 7.9@28C)
C = Chorinity Reading of Sample (for us 18-20 ppt Chlorinity, std
seawater is 19=35 ppt Salinity)
F = Chorinity Factor, from table (for us it will always be .08)
or in old fashion where the two equations are not combined
S - ( C x F) = Corrected Solubility
S= Solubility of O2 in Distilled Water
C = Chlorinity reading
F = Factor for the difference per 1.0 ppt Chorinity
When dealing with altitude or changes in barometeric pressure we replace S with S¹, so
S¹ = S x ( p¹ / 29.92 )
S= Solubility of distilled water
p¹ = another barometric pressure other than std, which is 29.92 inches of Hg
If your tank is 82 F that will be about 6.4 ppm =100% Saturation
Roughly 35 ppt Salinity = 19 ppt Chlorinity
so 1 ppt Cl = 1.84 Salinity
http://www.sablesystems.com/baro-altitude.html
If you were dealing with a table for altitude @ 5800 ft.
pA¹ = 23. 99 (In. Hg. Abs.)
8.2 x (23.99/29.92) = 6.575
If your salinity was 1.021 or about 29 ppt, saturation for O2 @ 25 C would be
6.575 - ( 15.76 x .08) = **5.31 mg / l O2 with 1.021/29 ppt salinity
and if it was at NSW of 35 ppt/1.026 at the same altitude and temp
6.575 - ( 19 x .08) = **5.05 mg / l O2 with 1.026/35 ppt salinity.
It is best NOT to use altitude values but the above barometer values. Reason, the barometric pressure at say 1,000 ft is not always the same.
Or for lazy people
http://www.aquanic.org/images/tools/oxygen.htm
http://www.mrhall.org/science/oxygen/oxygen.htm