wrasse man
New Member
What should I do to get rid of the silicates in my reef tank?
Silicates
- Thread starter wrasse man
- Start date
flamingkingofhe
Active Member
if you have a filter run silicate remover and bed reisen
sammystingray
Active Member
What is your source water? Tap? RO? DI? etc?
timsedwards
Active Member
RO/DI shouldnt have silicates if I am correct...?
Kents Phosphate sponge is also a silicate remover, they sell it on this site and is highly recommended.
All the best,
Tim.
Kents Phosphate sponge is also a silicate remover, they sell it on this site and is highly recommended.
All the best,
Tim.
barracuda
Active Member
Tim, just to add to your post. RO water may contain silicates. It depends on membrane type, how old is your membrane. It's good IMO to test your RO water for silicates also.
To remove accumulated silicates from the system you can install phosphate sponge. But before it will absorb silicates, first phosphates should be removed with the same sponge.
Cheers.
To remove accumulated silicates from the system you can install phosphate sponge. But before it will absorb silicates, first phosphates should be removed with the same sponge.
Cheers.
wrasse man
New Member
Thanks for the reply!!! I am using r/o water and all of this time I thought it was silicate free!!! WRONG.......I'll probably try Kent's phosphate sponge. Do you think that'll do the trick??? How long are we talking before I can say byebye to the diatoms
timsedwards
Active Member
Oh dear this is relevant to me now, i didnt realise RO water could contain silicates! How do you prevent them getting into your system then? I buy my RO from LFS so do not own a unit....
Cheers,
Tim.
Cheers,
Tim.
barracuda
Active Member
Don't panic guys!!! I said it could contain silicates, but in very low levels as it depends on what i mentioned in my previous post.
You can check Kent's website and search for RO units. Every RO unit has its own specs depending on membrane type. So RO water may contain silicates, phosphates, etc.
I would buy a good silicate test kit or check your water(RO and tank) for silicates in your LFS.
Wrasse Man, what makes you think you have silicates in your water?
You can check Kent's website and search for RO units. Every RO unit has its own specs depending on membrane type. So RO water may contain silicates, phosphates, etc.
I would buy a good silicate test kit or check your water(RO and tank) for silicates in your LFS.
Wrasse Man, what makes you think you have silicates in your water?
wrasse man
New Member
It's gotta be silicates, everything else checks out fine
wrasse man
New Member
Okay here goes. I've had my reef tank set up for about 2 years plus. I really had no major problems until a 6in. yellow tang died 2 months ago. Since then I have been fighting cyano bacteria and diatoms. I keep checking my water params and everything is fine. My water that I use for my faithfull weekly change is r/o. My light bulbs pc's 2 actinic and 2 10,000 k's are only 2 months old. The actinics come on at 10 in the morning and go off at 8 pm. The 10,000 k's come on at 11 am and go off at 6pm. So I don't think I'm leaving my lights on too long. I tried to find that dead tang time and time again with no success. I removed at least half of my live rock and still no fish!!! I really don't want to disrupt no more than I've already done in my system if you know what I mean. When I tested for phosphates even that checked out OK. I don't overfeed either. My system is as follows : 90 gal. tank 150 lbs. live rock 125 lbs. live sand emperor 280 for mechanical filtration (NO BIO WHEEL) lighting consists of 4 X 55 watt PC'S 2 aquaclear 802 powerheads CPR bak-pak 2 reef ready protein skimmer 1 yellow tang 1 potters wrasse 2 peppermint shrimp 4 cleaner shrimp 2 serpant stars 2 brittle stars 6 hermits 6 snails yellow polyps loads of mushrooms 1trachyphyllia orange cup coral other various polyps sponges everywhere all colors!!! If the cause of my problem is the dead fish...How come I had no ammonia spike??? And if I have to tear my tank apart to find him I guess I'll install my sump!!! Please help!!! By the way I checked the floor, so the tang didn't jump out!!!
barracuda
Active Member
First of all im sorry for your loss.
With such a clean-up crew you won't be able to find the remainings of your fish. I sure they liked the lunch.
When you say, that your phosphates OK, how much do you mean you have? What is your PO4 reading? Are you sure you have cyanobacteria or maybe you have filamentous algae? How does your algae looks like? Can you have your water tested for silicates?
P.S. With very bio-established system you won't have ammonia spike. If fish was dead and not eaten you possibly will have high PO4 level but ammonia will remain at 0 level.
could you post all the readings you can test for?
Cheers.
With such a clean-up crew you won't be able to find the remainings of your fish. I sure they liked the lunch.
When you say, that your phosphates OK, how much do you mean you have? What is your PO4 reading? Are you sure you have cyanobacteria or maybe you have filamentous algae? How does your algae looks like? Can you have your water tested for silicates?
P.S. With very bio-established system you won't have ammonia spike. If fish was dead and not eaten you possibly will have high PO4 level but ammonia will remain at 0 level.
could you post all the readings you can test for?
Cheers.
wrasse man
New Member
Readings are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, calcium 500ppm and phosphate 0.1 That's everything I can test for
wrasse man
New Member
The algae is a deep red velvet looking that grows on the live rock and on the subtrate.
barracuda
Active Member
In the case like yours, when water parameters seems to be normal, but something strange is happening i would recommend you to retest for at least nitrates and phosphates with other test kits, for example, take your water to LFS to test it for you.
Also test your water for silicates.
Also test your water for silicates.
wrasse man
New Member
Sounds like a good idea