Silica dosing

[merereef]

I wanted to start silica dosing in my reef to outcompete dinos... brightwell do spongexcell but it is rather expensive so was wondering if i can buy alternative product that will do the job? Will the product below be fine? Also does anyone know if there is a cheaper alternative to sponge excel in general?

 

[Joseph Disalvo]

Isn’t silicate something that causes Dino’s? How does this work

 

[35ppt]

Isn’t silicate something that causes Dino’s? How does this work

Silicates can cause diatom blooms. I believe diatoms either predate on or suppress in some other manner the dinos.

I wanted to start silica dosing in my reef to outcompete dinos... brightwell do spongexcell but it is rather expensive so was wondering if i can buy alternative product that will do the job? Will the product below be fine? Also does anyone know if there is a cheaper alternative to sponge excel in general?

I always look for food grade or pharmaceutical grade when buying bulk.

 

[merereef]

Silicates can cause diatom blooms. I believe diatoms either predate on or suppress in some other manner the dinos.


I always look for food grade or pharmaceutical grade when buying bulk.

So this product above will work just make sure its pharmacitical grade?

 

[Joseph Disalvo]

Silicates can cause diatom blooms. I believe diatoms either predate on or suppress in some other manner the dinos.


I always look for food grade or pharmaceutical grade when buying bulk.

So basically your dosing silicate to outbattle the Dino’s nutrient wise to eliminate the bloom by over populating

 

[Neoalchemist]

I used lab grade with no problems. Differant brand though.

 

[35ppt]

So this product above will work just make sure its pharmacitical grade?

What you have there is technical grade. It's just not as pure as pharmaceutical grade or food grade. I would get as high purity as you have available.

 

[Neoalchemist]

So basically your dosing silicate to outbattle the Dino’s nutrient wise to eliminate the bloom by over populating

A diatom bloom is also a great food source for a lot of the benthic life which in a dino bloom mostly get wiped out and need help rebounding thier population which in turn will help push out the dinos. Also diatoms like to occupy much of the same real estate as the dinos and are unfased by dino toxin.
Basically youare trying to incourage something other than dinos to flourish and diatoms being a great food source and a controllable bloom makes them a great candidate. The only downside to diatoms is that they are ugly but nowhere near as ugly as dino.
And it works. I wouldnt hesitate to initiate a diatom bloom tomorrow if needec.

 

[Joseph Disalvo]

A diatom bloom is also a great food source for a lot of the benthic life which in a dino bloom mostly get wiped out and need help rebounding thier population which in turn will help push out the dinos. Also diatoms like to occupy much of the same real estate as the dinos and are unfased by dino toxin.
Basically youare trying to incourage something other than dinos to flourish and diatoms being a great food source and a controllable bloom makes them a great candidate. The only downside to diatoms is that they are ugly but nowhere near as ugly as dino.
And it works. I wouldnt hesitate to initiate a diatom bloom tomorrow if needec.

Thank you

 

[Neoalchemist]

What you have there is technical grade. It's just not as pure as pharmaceutical grade or food grade. I would get as high purity as you have available.

Im on a budget, so its
Arm n hammer- for alkalinity
Driveway Heat ice melter-magnesium chloride
Mrs. Wages pickeling lime- kalkwasser/calcium hydroxide
Spectracide Stump remover-potasium nitrate
And any other way to save money.
If you think the ingrediants in all the aquarium packaged supplements are food grade or better... well... no way!

 

[merereef]

A diatom bloom is also a great food source for a lot of the benthic life which in a dino bloom mostly get wiped out and need help rebounding thier population which in turn will help push out the dinos. Also diatoms like to occupy much of the same real estate as the dinos and are unfased by dino toxin.
Basically youare trying to incourage something other than dinos to flourish and diatoms being a great food source and a controllable bloom makes them a great candidate. The only downside to diatoms is that they are ugly but nowhere near as ugly as dino.
And it works. I wouldnt hesitate to initiate a diatom bloom tomorrow if needec.

I have been battling the amphidinium dinos for MONTHS... just when i think i have them beat they come back... so you are pretty confident this should work? Sounds like you have had experience with this

 

[Neoalchemist]

I have been battling the amphidinium dinos for MONTHS... just when i think i have them beat they come back... so you are pretty confident this should work? Sounds like you have had experience with this

Yes I have. One tip though. Get the dinos out often and completely. If you have to take sand with them then take sand whatever just get them out. I used 5 gallon water changes(100 gallon tank) to suck them out. Filtering them out doesnt work. I tried down to 1 micron socks and the dinos went right through.
Pull the dino and sand and wash the sand let it sun dry and return it a cup at a time.
The diatoms will work to recover space that you clear.
Keep your nutrients detectable and uv running.

 

[Neoalchemist]

I have been battling the amphidinium dinos for MONTHS... just when i think i have them beat they come back... so you are pretty confident this should work? Sounds like you have had experience with this

For at least a couple of months. Every time I saw the rust color anywhere in the tank I would do another round of sodium silicate.
There will probably always be dino in the tank ( I believe they are in every tank) but havnt seen a visible outbreak in over a year.

 

[35ppt]

Im on a budget, so its
Arm n hammer- for alkalinity
Driveway Heat ice melter-magnesium chloride
Mrs. Wages pickeling lime- kalkwasser/calcium hydroxide
Spectracide Stump remover-potasium nitrate
And any other way to save money.
If you think the ingrediants in all the aquarium packaged supplements are food grade or better... well... no way!

I never said you had to use food grade or better. I know plenty of people have been using the products you've listed with great success. I used to make my own soda ash from arm n hammer. But when the price difference is often negligible you might as well get as pure as possible IMO.

 

[merereef]

For at least a couple of months. Every time I saw the rust color anywhere in the tank I would do another round of sodium silicate.
There will probably always be dino in the tank ( I believe they are in every tank) but havnt seen a visible outbreak in over a year.

Thank you for the advice...so just to clairfy... remove them as much as possible... dose the silicate untill diatom bloom and then leave alone and let the diatoms clear on its own and that shoudl take care of the dinos too?

 

[philosophile]

You can buy "waterglass" which is sodium silicate for pretty cheap. One bottle will last you basically forever. Be sure to properly dilute it for the concentration you have. In almost all cases you're talking drops per liter.

 

[Neoalchemist]

Thank you for the advice...so just to clairfy... remove them as much as possible... dose the silicate untill diatom bloom and then leave alone and let the diatoms clear on its own and that shoudl take care of the dinos too?

Right, start slow, low dose until you see how the tank reacts. You will probably have to maintain the diatom bloom for a while even after the dinos seem gone.
Quite a few people in the dino thread had to dose more than they thought they would to initiate a bloom.

 

[Neoalchemist]

I never said you had to use food grade or better. I know plenty of people have been using the products you've listed with great success. I used to make my own soda ash from arm n hammer. But when the price difference is often negligible you might as well get as pure as possible IMO.

Totally agree, but when I was shopping for sodium silicate i dont remember finding any higher grade. I would have bought higher grade if I found it unless it was cost prohibitive.

 

[merereef]

I just dosed my tank with about 10ml of silicate for a 60 gallon tank and the tank had loads and loads of snowflakes etc is this normal??? @Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[merereef]

Im on a budget, so its
Arm n hammer- for alkalinity
Driveway Heat ice melter-magnesium chloride
Mrs. Wages pickeling lime- kalkwasser/calcium hydroxide
Spectracide Stump remover-potasium nitrate
And any other way to save money.
If you think the ingrediants in all the aquarium packaged supplements are food grade or better... well... no way!

I dosed about 10ml in to a 60 gallon and noticed snowflakes everwhere is this normal??? Did i dose too much?