Jestersix

Great Barrier Reef - Unprecedented Bleaching Event

Flagg37 said:
I’ve wondered about the possibility of new reefs starting to populate in newer areas that had previously been too cold. I understand that it takes reefs like the GBR thousands of years to form but shouldn’t we start to see the beginnings of new reefs in the form of corals popping up since there is now different areas that have the more hospitable temperatures?
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Temp is only one problem. Low Ph is a huge problem.
 
Coral reefer said:
Temp is not one problem. Low Ph is a huge problem.
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Flagg37 said:
I haven’t heard of low pH happening. How low are we talking?
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you haven’t been listening then.
Aquarists should really understand this problem better than most. What happens to the ph in our tanks when we have a high level of co2 in our homes?
What do you suspect happens to all the excess co2 we are releasing into the atmosphere?
Hint, it doesn’t stay in the air...
 
I understand that co2 will lower pH in our reef tanks. I just hadn’t heard that it was lowering the pH of the oceans. The ambient levels of co2 in our atmosphere is only .025-.04% vs .1-.2% in a typical house (and can get much higher depending on how the house is ventilated) (https://www.kane.co.uk/knowledge-centre/what-are-safe-levels-of-co-and-co2-in-rooms). That’s 4-8 times the concentration. It’s not that much of a surprise that the pH in our tanks is lower. Still, I’ve not heard of low pH in a reef tank being a great concern that would cause a mass bleaching event.

The oceans have a great tool to be able to get rid of co2. They’re full of algae and organisms that use co2 in their process of photosynthesis which in turn they release o2. This is a big reason why many reef tanks have refugiums with macro algae.

Can you point me to where your source for making the claim that co2 is lowering the pH of the oceans and causing the reefs to bleach? I’m not saying it’s not plausible I just haven’t heard it.
 
Flagg37 said:
I understand that co2 will lower pH in our reef tanks. I just hadn’t heard that it was lowering the pH of the oceans. The ambient levels of co2 in our atmosphere is only .025-.04% vs .1-.2% in a typical house (and can get much higher depending on how the house is ventilated) (https://www.kane.co.uk/knowledge-centre/what-are-safe-levels-of-co-and-co2-in-rooms). That’s 4-8 times the concentration. It’s not that much of a surprise that the pH in our tanks is lower. Still, I’ve not heard of low pH in a reef tank being a great concern that would cause a mass bleaching event.

The oceans have a great tool to be able to get rid of co2. They’re full of algae and organisms that use co2 in their process of photosynthesis which in turn they release o2. This is a big reason why many reef tanks have refugiums with macro algae.

Can you point me to where your source for making the claim that co2 is lowering the pH of the oceans and causing the reefs to bleach? I’m not saying it’s not plausible I just haven’t heard it.
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Google ocean acidification. Lots of info out there. Surprised you haven’t heard of it.
 
Yeah, I’m just not sure I agree that it’s causing mass coral bleaching. I’m not arguing the data that in the last 200 years, it’s gone from 8.25 to 8.1 and keeping in mind that the scale is logarithmic so this isn’t a slight change but...

If someone posted on here saying, “Help, my pH is at 7.8”. I don’t think anyone would reply, “yeah, you’d better get that up. You’re in risk of having all your corals bleach”.

Where as I have seen entire tanks bleach after hitting 82+ degrees.
 
Flagg37 said:
Yeah, I’m just not sure I agree that it’s causing mass coral bleaching. I’m not arguing the data that in the last 200 years, it’s gone from 8.25 to 8.1 and keeping in mind that the scale is logarithmic so this isn’t a slight change but...

If someone posted on here saying, “Help, my pH is at 7.8”. I don’t think anyone would reply, “yeah, you’d better get that up. You’re in risk of having all your corals bleach”.

Where as I have seen entire tanks bleach after hitting 82+ degrees.
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I didn’t say it was causing the bleaching now. I’m not saying it isn’t a big factor either, I honestly don’t know. I do know ph in the ocean Is more stable than our tanks so I don’t think its a fair comparison.
My tank routinely sees 4-5 degree temp swings during water changes. I don’t think the ocean sees that variance in a few minutes like my tank. Would the corals in the ocean respond the same way as my tank?
It was more of a reply to your post about how new areas that used to be too cold will be the right temp so new reefs will spring up in those areas. I disagree with this as I feel it’s an oversimplification of the issues the ocean Is facing. The whole global ocean system will Be experiencing other (potential worse) problems besides temperature such as low ph.
 
I think the problem from low pH is it slows down coral growth, making it harder to bounce back from the seasonal bleaching events. Not that the reefs have a chance to make a comeback at this point... we can’t even outlaw plastic straws when paper straws work just fine.
 
Chromis said:
I think the problem from low pH is it slows down coral growth, making it harder to bounce back from the seasonal bleaching events. Not that the reefs have a chance to make a comeback at this point... we can’t even outlaw plastic straws when paper straws work just fine.
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That’s probably the largest part of the ph problem for now yes, but it will keep dropping, and we all know at a certain point that ain’t gonna work anymore.
 
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