I've got a bit of a head-scratcher in terms of how I proceed with a slight silicate problem in my tank. I recently got back an ICP test from Triton which indicated I had high Silicon in the system (360 micrograms/liter), which normally I wouldn't really worry about as silicates aren't normally a big problem as I understand... But I have what I believe to be diatoms dusting the glass (cleaning daily, returning daily) and fluffy brown diatoms attaching themselves to the rockwork.
I purchased a silicate test kit from Salifert after getting the results from Triton so I could find the source of the silicates, but the tank registered a 0.00 which is disappointing because I know there are excess silicates in the water from the Triton test.
As I understand, GFO can be used to reduce silicates, which is great, but I'm currently trying to RAISE PO4 (from 0.00-0.01), so I feel using GFO would work one problem against the other. Any ideas on a workaround?
Possible causes of silicate source:
-BRS dry rock (cured in saltwater for about 3 months prior to adding fish/corals)
-Instant Ocean salt mix (standard, not Reef Crystals)
-RO/DI filters (all filters, including DI and membranes) replaced not more than 2 months ago, producing 0 TDS water, so pretty sure it's not that. Color-changing resin still mostly blue.
-Tank has been running for 8 months.
Let me know if I can add any other data that might be helpful. Ideally I'm just looking to find a way to use GFO (or any other silicate removal strategy) that won't deplete PO4 completely. I'd also obviously like to find the source of the silicates, but find it difficult if I don't have a reliable test kit for it.
I purchased a silicate test kit from Salifert after getting the results from Triton so I could find the source of the silicates, but the tank registered a 0.00 which is disappointing because I know there are excess silicates in the water from the Triton test.
As I understand, GFO can be used to reduce silicates, which is great, but I'm currently trying to RAISE PO4 (from 0.00-0.01), so I feel using GFO would work one problem against the other. Any ideas on a workaround?
Possible causes of silicate source:
-BRS dry rock (cured in saltwater for about 3 months prior to adding fish/corals)
-Instant Ocean salt mix (standard, not Reef Crystals)
-RO/DI filters (all filters, including DI and membranes) replaced not more than 2 months ago, producing 0 TDS water, so pretty sure it's not that. Color-changing resin still mostly blue.
-Tank has been running for 8 months.
Let me know if I can add any other data that might be helpful. Ideally I'm just looking to find a way to use GFO (or any other silicate removal strategy) that won't deplete PO4 completely. I'd also obviously like to find the source of the silicates, but find it difficult if I don't have a reliable test kit for it.