Thirty years of unique data reveal what's really killing coral reefs (with link to article)

[serwobow]

Just saw this article:

https://phys.org/news/2019-07-years-unique-reveal-coral-reefs.html
Thirty years of unique data reveal what's really killing coral reefs....
"A key finding from the study is that land-based nutrient runoff has increased the nitrogenhosphorus ratio (N) in reef algae, which indicates an increasing degree of phosphorus limitation known to cause metabolic stress and eventually starvation in corals. Concentrations of reactive nitrogen are above critical ecosystem threshold levels previously established for the Florida Keys as are phytoplankton levels for offshore reefs as evidenced by the presence of macroalgae and other harmful algal blooms due to excessive levels of nutrients."

In reef tank terms, by dosing their algae with nitrates, the Floridians depleted their ocean of phosphates, killing all their corals. Amazing.

 

[dz6t]

That is the same thing as running refugium along with GFO.



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[serwobow]

Also the same thing as dosing nitrates to lower their phosphates - a strategy used by many reefers. This research could be interpreted to mean that nitrate dosing is a very risky strategy.

 

[dz6t]

Yes it is, there is no need to dose nitrate if one feed the fish well.
There were studies done in the labs that demonstrated phosphate is a critical nutrient for coral growth, up to 1 ppm phosphate.
Richard Ross runs his tank close to 2 ppm phosphate, no algae and coral are growing like mad. He gave a presentation on 2015 (?) MACNA, but the industry does not give a damn about it.
GFO is a high profit item after all.


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[dz6t]

2014.



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[Greg Hiller]

Well, the title is a little misleading. Yes, the phenomenon explained in the article might explain some areas of the Caribbean and in particular Acropora palmata, but that's not what's bleaching and killing SPS in the middle of the Pacific away from any significant runoff. What's killing them there (and in huge areas of the oceans worldwide) is the combination of ocean acidification (yes, already dropped 0.1 pH units since industrial revolution due to CO2 (forms carbonic acid in water of course) now at about 420 ppm, the graph is on this page if you really want to scare yourself: https://research.noaa.gov/article/A.../Carbon-dioxide-levels-hit-record-peak-in-May ) and the rise in global sea water temps. I've been diving on some of these reefs...really sad to see bleaching.