Jestersix

ICP Silicon levels

ofzakaria said:
That's why when I introduce someone to rowphos you see me warn many times to not overdose and watch po4 closely. This media is very effective.
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You introduced me to Rowaphos last winter, you might recall. And you made it super clear not to over-do it. I fought the urge to use a reactor and, now, seeing how far the Si has adjusted in 6 months I'm glad to have gone "low and slow".

@svreef: yours should adjust from 192.5 in no time.
 
My tank measured 225ug/l Si, my Fritz salt mix measured 338ug/l (using 0 TDS RODI) so in my case, my Si comes from my salt mix. I have a few sponges which are probably helping to reduce it, but I have never had diatoms.
 
Chromis said:
My tank measured 225ug/l Si, my Fritz salt mix measured 338ug/l (using 0 TDS RODI) so in my case, my Si comes from my salt mix. I have a few sponges which are probably helping to reduce it, but I have never had diatoms.
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This leads me to believe that what I have is not diatoms. Ugh. Unless the silicate is mostly in the sand and not the water.
 
svreef said:
This leads me to believe that what I have is not diatoms. Ugh. Unless the silicate is mostly in the sand and not the water.
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Next time you plan to go to San Jose, meet up with @IOnceWasLegend. He's offered to identify dinoflagellates vs. diatoms (or "whatevertheheckisthat") for members using a microscope. See this thread: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/loaner-microscope-for-club-use.26031/post-381981

I am borrowing @MolaMola's scope. I used it to positively identify my dinos. It's the best way to be sure what you're dealing with.
 
svreef said:
This leads me to believe that what I have is not diatoms. Ugh. Unless the silicate is mostly in the sand and not the water.
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Not sure why you concluding like that?
Just because someone have silica it dosnot mean they will have diatom and visa versa. Diatom dosnot consumes only silica and without it it will not show up.
Just be cautious when you debug issues in your tank.
Knowing what I know about your tank, the most probable outcome that you dealing with is diatom which will be followed by algae bloom then steady stage..
 
I can’t seem to be able to link my journal here.

I believe I have diatoms and cyano in low flow areas. I recognize the latter from previous experience.

4d829a6dd7e0fe141784161f2378649e.mov
 
svreef said:
I can’t seem to be able to link my journal here.

I believe I have diatoms and cyano in low flow areas. I recognize the latter from previous experience.

4d829a6dd7e0fe141784161f2378649e.mov
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Echoing what @Squist said above; I've got a loaner microscope for the club, or I'm happy to try and confirm what you've got if you want to arrange a dropoff of a sand/water sample at Neptune sometime.
 
ofzakaria said:
Not sure why you concluding like that?
Just because someone have silica it dosnot mean they will have diatom and visa versa. Diatom dosnot consumes only silica and without it it will not show up.
Just be cautious when you debug issues in your tank.
Knowing what I know about your tank, the most probable outcome that you dealing with is diatom which will be followed by algae bloom then steady stage..
Click to expand...

Good point. I have much lower nutrients so diatoms might not grow as well in my tank even with more silica present. Also I was looking up what eats diatoms, and trochus snails came up, and I have a ton of those. Trochus might also help consume some of the cyano for you. But that will ultimately just recycle the nutrients or get them back into the water column where you can skim/water change them out, so you still need to do some work.

Also be careful about removing the diatoms/silica aggressively, you might just end up with more cyano and wish you had diatoms again :)
 
I think that’s exactly what has happened in the last week. After vacuuming I seem to have more cyano.

I placed a large order for snails but I think they were all wrong and mostly dead, so I plan on going to AC to get more - and the right ones.
 
Squist said:
You introduced me to Rowaphos last winter, you might recall. And you made it super clear not to over-do it. I fought the urge to use a reactor and, now, seeing how far the Si has adjusted in 6 months I'm glad to have gone "low and slow".

@svreef: yours should adjust from 192.5 in no time.
Click to expand...
@ofzakaria i decided to use a reactor in my shroom tank once and accidentally dumped too much in, figured would be fine but my tank definitely suffered... recovered after I stopped.

Usually, i put it into a mesh bag and inti the sump so flow is more passive. But, in a reactor, this stuff is dangerous if one is not careful based on my experience. Only system I've ever attempted with a reactor. And only system I've have serious issues with...and lost a few precious shrooms.
 
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