Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 295: Loss of elements to the air

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 295

Which of the following elements might have appreciable loss to the air by evaporation from a reef aquarium?

1. Nitrogen and iodine
2. Nitrogen and phosphorus
3. Boron and iodine
4. Calcium and phosphorus
5. Manganese and iron

Good luck!

Previous Reef Chemistry Question of the day:

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 294: The CCD

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 294 The CCD is a chemically-related aspect of the ocean that has strong implications for organisms that form calcium carbonate skeletons or shells. What is the CCD? 1. Calcium Coupling Density 2. Calcite Concretion Demineralization 3. Carbonate...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Troylee]

I’d say #1 after seeing everyone’s icp test coming back low on iodine.. i wish it was calcium but it’s not! Mine keeps rising “with top off kalk” and it’s a pain to keep down lol..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Bump.

 

[Koty]

1

 

[Poulpo]

1 for sure. N as N2 from denitrification. Is the loss of I in the form of I2 molecules?

 

[Kyan]

My vote goes to Manganese and Iron.

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 295

Which of the following elements might have appreciable loss to the air by evaporation from a reef aquarium?

1. Nitrogen and iodine
2. Nitrogen and phosphorus
3. Boron and iodine
4. Calcium and phosphorus
5. Manganese and iron

Good luck!

Previous Reef Chemistry Question of the day:

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 294: The CCD

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 294 The CCD is a chemically-related aspect of the ocean that has strong implications for organisms that form calcium carbonate skeletons or shells. What is the CCD? 1. Calcium Coupling Density 2. Calcite Concretion Demineralization 3. Carbonate...

www.reef2reef.com

Are you solely talking about evaporation or do you include loss due to aerosolization?

 

[fishface NJ]

5

 

[Daenion]

I know this one!

1

Nitrogen is obvious.

I read an article awhile ago that Iodine levels in the atmosphere increased significantly over the last 50 years. I think through algae Iodine forms more volatile bonds then reacts with ozone on the surface of the sea to be released as gas into the atmosphere.

I probably remember some of that wrong.

 

[Floyd-]

Id say #1

 

[MabuyaQ]

3 and there may be some systems that only use bacteria driven 'filtration' through carbon dosing where 1 is applicable

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I love to watch these although they are always over my head, the cave man in me wants to say nothing but pure water evaporates but that wasn't an option here........hmmmmm

 

[Hans-Werner]

Appreciable? I would say none.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Are you solely talking about evaporation or do you include loss due to aerosolization?

I was careful to say evaporation.

 

[Koty]

I wrote 1 as I used Idoine vapor to lable lipids separated by TLC

 

[Hans-Werner]

1. Nitrogen and iodine

After I have already answered I have thought about that sometimes the solutions are a bit subtle.

What kind of iodine do you mean, only I2 or total iodine including iodide, iodate etc., the several oxidation states of iodine?

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

I was careful to say evaporation.

Then I will go with :

3. Boron and iodine

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

And the answer is:

Which of the following elements might have appreciable loss to the air by evaporation from a reef aquarium?

1. Nitrogen and iodine
2. Nitrogen and phosphorus
3. Boron and iodine
4. Calcium and phosphorus
5. Manganese and iron

As many reefers know, nitrogen can be formed into the forms N2 (by denitrification) and ammonia, both of which can evaporated from seawater. n2 will, of course, be far more inclined to escape tot eh air than is ammonia, which will be slow to be released due to its affinity to water.

Iodine can also take some forms that can evaporate. Most notably, there are organic forms of iodine which readily evaporate and form a portion of the environmental cycling of iodine. Methyl iodide, for example. Iodine as I2 can also evaporate, but there is relatively little I2 in seawater and it's propensity to evaporate from seawater is fairly low due to its high mass. Wikipedia has a summary of iodine cycling:

"However, the majority of the iodine cycled into the atmosphere occurs through biological conversion of iodide and iodate to methyl forms, primarily methyl iodide."

All of the other compounds listed are always in charged forms (except boron) and will not evaporate.
Boron is present as borate and boric acid. Boric acid has a very low vapor pressure at room temperature and will be even lower when dissolved in water, so will have a very low tendency (if any) to evaporate from seawater. This has more:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-908X.2001.tb00788.x

Happy Reefing!

 

[Rafik]

And the answer is:

Which of the following elements might have appreciable loss to the air by evaporation from a reef aquarium?

1. Nitrogen and iodine
2. Nitrogen and phosphorus
3. Boron and iodine
4. Calcium and phosphorus
5. Manganese and iron

As many reefers know, nitrogen can be formed into the forms N2 (by denitrification) and ammonia, both of which can evaporated from seawater. n2 will, of course, be far more inclined to escape tot eh air than is ammonia, which will be slow to be released due to its affinity to water.

Iodine can also take some forms that can evaporate. Most notably, there are organic forms of iodine which readily evaporate and form a portion of the environmental cycling of iodine. Methyl iodide, for example. Iodine as I2 can also evaporate, but there is relatively little I2 in seawater and it's propensity to evaporate from seawater is fairly low due to its high mass. Wikipedia has a summary of iodine cycling:

"However, the majority of the iodine cycled into the atmosphere occurs through biological conversion of iodide and iodate to methyl forms, primarily methyl iodide."

All of the other compounds listed are always in charged forms (except boron) and will not evaporate.
Boron is present as borate and boric acid. Boric acid has a very low vapor pressure at room temperature and will be even lower when dissolved in water, so will have a very low tendency (if any) to evaporate from seawater. This has more:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-908X.2001.tb00788.x

altsarepta.ru/app/

Happy Reefing!

Thank you for sharing this insightful information! It certainly adds a new layer of complexity to understanding reef tank chemistry and evaporation dynamics. Happy reefing to you too!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you for sharing this insightful information! It certainly adds a new layer of complexity to understanding reef tank chemistry and evaporation dynamics. Happy reefing to you too!

Thanks!