Reef Chemistry Puzzle #3

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 9, 2023

Chemistry Puzzle 3
4 clues today

A. Corals love me. I love acropora especially, since they are always looking to take me into their warm embrace.

B. I have several nearly identical siblings. Most reefers cannot tell us siblings apart, but I can see the difference.

C. Some of my siblings are unstable. Sometimes they just go crazy for no apparent reason. We tried therapy on them, but it didn't help them.

D. One of my siblings used to be in another family. He went crazy there, and become one of us instead. Scientists tried to study him and those like him, but they failed to get a good story out of him. He seems very ordinary now. Even I think he looks identical to me.

What am I?

Good luck!

Previous puzzle:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-chemistry-puzzle-2.1017452/

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Reefer911 · Nov 9, 2023

Zooxanthellae?

Alexraptor · Nov 9, 2023

Reefer911 said:
Zooxanthellae?

I mean it kinda fits, but does that really qualify as chemistry since they are living organisms? :thinking-face:

Reefer911 · Nov 9, 2023

Alexraptor said:
I mean it kinda fits, but does that really qualify as chemistry since they are living organisms? :thinking-face:

Chemistry is life. Life is chemistry.

rhitee93 · Nov 9, 2023

I'm guessing phosphorus. It's pretty unstable in some of its forms, and our test kits don't know the difference.

jda · Nov 9, 2023

I am with phosphorous, but specifically The Phosphate Family with their offspring of Ortho, Poly, Meta their sister Organically-Bound and maybe some others that I have not met yet. Most people think that the whole family looks like Ortho. Stonies can permanently bind them into calcium carbonate structures as they grow. There are many unstable forms and most people only notice or care about one. I have no idea how a form got booted from one family to another, though.

Miami Reef · Nov 9, 2023

jda said:
I am with phosphorous, but specifically The Phosphate Family with their offspring of Ortho, Poly, Meta their sister Organically-Bound and maybe some others that I have not met yet. Most people think that the whole family looks like Ortho. Stonies can permanently bind them into calcium carbonate structures as they grow. There are many unstable forms and most people only notice or care about one. I have no idea how a form got booted from one family to another, though.

ATP? The 3rd phosphate group is very unstable and breaks off?

jda · Nov 9, 2023

I haven't met ATP since they went off to college before we moved to town. Could be...

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 9, 2023

Phosphate is an interesting answer, but not the one I was looking for. :)

jda · Nov 9, 2023

I am going with the Ite Family then... calcium carbonate (aragonite), dolomite, calcite and the like. I have no idea...

Miami Reef · Nov 9, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Phosphate is an interesting answer, but not the one I was looking for. :)

Oh really? I was almost sure it was phosphate. Hmmm.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 9, 2023

Let me give a clue. I might have been too cute with some of the phrasing.

"We tried therapy on them, but it didn't help them."

No therapy of any kind (e.g., nothing at all) impacts whether they "go crazy". :)

That's a big clue. What can going crazy mean that nothing seems to impact it?

Yazannreef · Nov 9, 2023

Sodium Hydroxide

jda · Nov 9, 2023

My gaggle of daughters all like acropora, corals, share a lot of the DNA but not completely idential and need LESS than no reason to just go crazy... let me know where to claim my prize... I nailed this one!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 9, 2023

jda said:
My gaggle of daughters all like acropora, corals, share a lot of the DNA but not completely idential and need LESS than no reason to just go crazy... let me know where to claim my prize... I nailed this one!

lol you did!