Silicates?

[58merc]

I set up 46 gallon tank about 2 months ago.

Bak Pak skimmer
2 power heads
aquaclear hang on filter
192W CF light

Not much stock

2 clowns
hermits
snails
20 lbs LR (I have more curing)

I am on my second brown algae outbreak. this ones worst than the first. I have no nitrate, 0 phosphates, 0 ammonia. The light is on a timer and runs 11 hours a day. The tank has cycled.

I have 3" of live sand/crushed coral. I think I have the problem narrowed down to silicates. The live sand is the bagged for sale at your local petstore kind. could I be getting silicates from it? I also recently switch to RO/DI water.

I did a 25% water change yesterday and again today. Hoping that some of the problem was with my tap water. The skimmer is going nuts. And man dose it stink!! almost like dirt. I have 50lbs of rock curing in the basement and it smells better.

The growth dosen't seem to be slowing much. If I clean an area of the tank it will regrow in an hour. Is there anything else I can do?

Every thing else is fine, fish inverts. Oh, PH is a little low at 8.1
Thanks for any help

 

[58merc]

Oh, I have to add a buffer to get the PH up. Don't know if this means anything?

 

[reef_doug]

Silicates can be difficult to test for. Since you recently started using RO/DI then I would continue with more water changes. My bet is the problem came from the tap.

BTW... don't use any buffers. Just pick a maintenance scheme like two part alkalinity & Calcium. You'll also want to add a Magnesium test kit to your arsenal.

 

[58merc]

Can you elaberate on a maintenance scheme and two part alk and cal? Thanks.

I'll look for a Mag kit online tonight. Any suggestions.

 

[Billybeau1]

This thread will give you all the answers you need. There is good info on two part plus a nice article explaining Silicates. In fact, I would bookmark it if I were you. Randy's articles are invaluable.

archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605

 

[58merc]

Thanks!!

I saved it to my favorites.

On a side note. The algae seems to be slowing down sence the water changes. I'll keep doing them untill it clears up.

The snails are sure loving it though.

 

[Billybeau1]

Of course.

Snails love algae.

Good luck.