Best media to reduce silicates from ceramic rock in FOWLR

[holdyourlight]

Snail shells, particuarly turbos IMO, are a good way to introduce corralline into a tank without LR. IT's usualy growing on their shells. That would eventualy cover up the surface of the structure, blocking leaching. Would take quite some timethough, and 100% coverage isn't likely IMO. You could always scrub their shells free of algae, but it seems you're already having problems with algea, so not sure what the point would be.

As far as Phosguard, I tried it in my mixed reef and within a few days diatoms were dramaticaly reduced. Not sure if it was due to phosphates or silicates, as I hadn't tested, but it did work for whatever situation I had. Only problem I had with it was some of my soft coral closing up after a couple days. Fish showed no ill effects what so ever, so I's suspect you'd be okay with it. It is fairly cheap compaired to GFO which is why I tried it in the first place. Seems as though it may be more aggressive than GFO at absorbing phosphates, and phosphate drop was too sudden for my soft coral (or it leached aluminum? debatable). Might be better at absorbing silicate too. Not sure if there is a reliable/accurate silicate test kit. I've never bothered to think about it.

BTW, I love the zoas in your profile pic, holdyourlight. Wish I had some of those.

I'd love to get some turbos or trochus but i am actually more worried about things like ich hitchhiking more than algae, since i can scrub their shells. I'm going to have to look into how something like tank transfer QT method works for snails.

I ordered 2L of phosguard and should be here tomorrow so gonna fire it up. Glad to hear it helped you.

Thanks. I've been out of the coral game for a long time now. Those were called Yellow Jackets.

 

[dkeller_nc]

I follow this, but not completely. what would you do if you were in my shoes?

I spent a lot of time and money to have these rocks custom made and this is especially frustrating considering their website says this:

VidaRock is inert and is like putting a piece of glass in your tank. If it is clean, it will not affect water chemistry at all.

With respect to the company's advertising, I suspect what they're referring to is the comparison between their product and artificial rock made with cement and calcium carbonate aggregates. The cement needs to be "cured" in water, as that amount of lime may dramatically increase the alkalinity and pH of the water it's in until the surface chemistry stabilizes.

But unless VidaRock is using some very technical (and really expensive) ceramic materials such as tungsten carbide or zirconium compounds, it's a pretty safe bet that they're using kaolinite (a type of clay largely composed of alumina silicate) and aluminum oxide.

As far as "what to do in my shoes", my first response would be to drastically lower the lighting over the tank and switch the spectrum to a very blue-white (20,000K or higher). Then I'd be introducing some coralline algae to the tank, and dose with calcium and alkalinity to encourage its growth. Snails, as Jonathan suggests, would be my next step.

Ultimately, you may have to be satisfied with limiting the diatom's growth rather than eliminating it altogether so it's not a constant maintenance hassle.

 

[holdyourlight]

Just a small update while i am QT'ing snails and coralline algae that will be eventually introduced.

I was able to test a few things.

I tested silicates with a Salifert kit. DT water was 0. I figured that the diatoms could be using all of the silicates up. I tested my RODI water and it was 0. I figured that i could rule out my RODI as a source. Next, i wanted to make sure that the test was working since i had gotten zeroes on both. Tested my tap water. 0.5 ppm. So i know the test is working

I also tested phosphates with a Hanna 736 and (after converting to ppm) , ended up with 0.15 ppm phosphates

Finally i tested nitrates with a red sea pro kit and it was ~50 ppm

 

[bertoni]

I'd probably work on the phosphate level. That might solve the problem. No guarantees, but some GFO often does a lot.

 

[holdyourlight]

I'd probably work on the phosphate level. That might solve the problem. No guarantees, but some GFO often does a lot.

started vodka dosing 3 weeks ago and will keep the gfo online and probably up the dosage and change frequency

 

[holdyourlight]

Would old lighting make any difference here? I have 4x80w T5's (retrofitted into the canopy, no reflectors) on this tank, and probably haven't changed them in 3 years. It's a FOWLR so it's not been top priority. I've heard old bulbs can cause algae, but what about diatoms?

Some other observations along this line of thinking:

I had a shop light on the sump of this tank because i had a couple of tangs in there for a while. Otherwise the sump is in the basement where it is dark. There were diatoms in the sump only where the shop light was. When the tangs were put into the DT i removed the sump light and cleaned the diatoms off of the glass, they haven't returned in several months, even as it gets worse in the DT.

I also now have these diatoms covering my QT tank (seperate system). Same shop light. I had put a small piece of filter floss in the QT tank from the sump of the DT to get some good bacteria in there and it was pretty brown with diatoms when i put it in there, so that may have got them started and the light is fueling them i guess...

I'm willing to replace the bulbs in the FOWLR, but i've never really bought into the fact that bulbs needed to be changed on anything other than a reef. I'd always just thought i'd run them until they died. I could be wrong about that.

Any feedback before i spend money to replace the bulbs?

I should also add that 3 day blackout did absolutely nothing to the diatoms and running for a week with only room lights did not help either, so i am a bit skeptical that changing the bulbs would work

 

[CStrickland]

Perhaps add something to compete with the diatoms for food?

It's a long shot in such a young tank, but there are some beautiful sponges and tunicates out there. I think you would have to do a fair amount of reading on their care ahead of time, and spot feed it supplemental food, but even if it didn't thrive it might eat up a bunch of silica before it goes.
I'm being patient, but I really want a red tree sponge and a lollipop tunicates like this pic. There's a bunch of diff kinds you might like.

 

[bertoni]

GFO might be able to outcompete the diatoms for the phosphate in the water, but there's no guarantee that it'd work. Animals are going to grow too slowly to be useful.

 

[shaggss]

Off topic sorry. Tried to PM you but your mail box is full.

Could I ask you when and where you ordered your rock? And were they custom made? I am trying to work through http://aqua-tecture.com to get Cerameco rocks. I have placed an order in June last year! But nothing has happened. About to give up.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[holdyourlight]

Off topic sorry. Tried to PM you but your mail box is full.

Could I ask you when and where you ordered your rock? And were they custom made? I am trying to work through http://aqua-tecture.com to get Cerameco rocks. I have placed an order in June last year! But nothing has happened. About to give up.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I also worked through Aqua-Tecture. It took about 8 months from initial order until delivery. Let me know if i can answer any more questions for you

 

[holdyourlight]

GFO might be able to outcompete the diatoms for the phosphate in the water, but there's no guarantee that it'd work. Animals are going to grow too slowly to be useful.

Thanks Bert- I'll continue to work on the phosphate with GFO and vinegar.

I think the lights are fueling the growth, but i am unsure if new lights would make any difference

 

[shaggss]

I also worked through Aqua-Tecture. It took about 8 months from initial order until delivery. Let me know if i can answer any more questions for you

Thanks for the reply! I'll hold on a little longer then.

 

[Swip]

I also had massive silicate problems in my tank. GFO didn't help as much as it should have so I tried a product called "Silicarbon" and had much better results with that.
Would probably be worth a try if you are able to buy it in the US.

 

[holdyourlight]

I also had massive silicate problems in my tank. GFO didn't help as much as it should have so I tried a product called "Silicarbon" and had much better results with that.
Would probably be worth a try if you are able to buy it in the US.

I've heard of that before. I looked briefly a while back and i don't think i was able to find any, at least not any in the USA. I'll have to do some more digging. Thanks for the tip

 

[bertoni]

That sounds like a good plan to me.

 

[holdyourlight]

That sounds like a good plan to me.

No luck finding any so far.

Again, silicates in the tank read 0, but i guess it could just be that they are all being consumed by the diatoms...

 

[bertoni]

Oh, well, it's probably a long shot, anyway.

 

[dkeller_nc]

No luck finding any so far.

Again, silicates in the tank read 0, but i guess it could just be that they are all being consumed by the diatoms...

Yeah, that's possible. You mentioned 3-year old T5HO tubes. Fluorescents, particularly white tubes, tend to color shift towards yellow as they age. And some of use have observed that algae grows at a much higher rate with yellow/red shifted lighting. I'm not sure whether this would apply to diatoms, but if you have several T5HOs in your fixture with different spectrums, such as a blue/actinic tube and a white-balanced tube, you might consider removing the white tube(s) for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference. That experiment won't cost you anything, and if it works, you can consider replacing the white tubes with new ones.

 

[holdyourlight]

Yeah, that's possible. You mentioned 3-year old T5HO tubes. Fluorescents, particularly white tubes, tend to color shift towards yellow as they age. And some of use have observed that algae grows at a much higher rate with yellow/red shifted lighting. I'm not sure whether this would apply to diatoms, but if you have several T5HOs in your fixture with different spectrums, such as a blue/actinic tube and a white-balanced tube, you might consider removing the white tube(s) for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference. That experiment won't cost you anything, and if it works, you can consider replacing the white tubes with new ones.

Good call. Couldn't hurt

4 bulbs

Blue+
GE 6500k
Aquablue +
Fiji Purple

 

[gerryhine]

I believe a micro film of golden diatoms is a natural event and your structures do not look like they have a problem. Increasing and re-directing the output of the internal power heads would improve the situation greatly and be far less expensive that adding silicate adsorbents every month. You also did not mention the type of skimmer you use. Does it produce a thick dry green waste in the cup? If not, then readjust it or invest in a stronger unit. The last question I would ask is what type of lighting you use? What is the color spectrum and how long have the bulbs been uses and what is their periodicity?These are all basic questions that should be answered before you ever think about using compounds to add or remove trace elements from your water. Why spend the money? My philosophy has always been... Remember, you are trying to imitate in a teardrop what God has made. Relax, enjoy the tank and meditate in front if it.
Gerryhine