c02 in reefs?

[accord86]

I started out with freshwater planted tanks and I know that the water chemistry for a reef and a planted tank is different, but I was thinking if there were benefits in using c02. I'm talking about with refugiums growing marine plants. Would c02 be beneficial to marine plants causing better growth and with that better nutrient export? I've had green hair algae in my freshwater tank and that was diagnosed with having lighting too intense without enough c02. So maybe it would help macro algaes absorb nutrients? C02 has the effect of dropping pH of water, so maybe that could counteract the effects of kalkwasser. Just thinking outloud and wondering what others had to say about this.

[newreefguy]

A stable PH is essential in reef aquaria. Kalk is normally dripped so PH is as least effected as it can be.

 

The only time I have ever heard of CO2 being added to a reef is for a calcium reactor and then you would normally have a PH controller and solenoid on the CO2 regulator to keep the PH level in check (ie: prevent it from going down too much at one time).

[Carinya]

I've always wondered about this too.

[onthefly]

Well, I've heard horror stories about CR's putting excess CO2 into the tank.......2 scenarios: 1) a lot of CO2 gets in and the pH drops like crazy or 2) a little CO2 leaks in and a wicked algae outbreak occurs.

 

The tendency of marine pH is to drop...so Kalk helps to avoid this. I don't see a benefit of dosing CO2 to counteract Kalk, which is helping to keep pH up.