SILICA VS SILICATES VS SILICON

[Icedog]

I'd like to test for this parameter in my RODI and salt water and have looked at various testing options. But I'm confused as to what variation I should be testing:

1. The Salifert kit tests for silicates.

2. The ICP tests I've sent test for silicon.

3. Hanna Instruments has handheld checkers for both low-range and high-range silica.

Do they all give you the same basic information? I much prefer the Hanna checker because I can do that at home and it's easy to use, but is that testing for the correct element?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

They are basically all detecting dissolved silicate and silicic acid (the uncharged form of silicate). Icp would also detect particulate silica if it was allowed into the system, but most companies filter or centrifuge the solution to avoid such issues.

Silicon is the atom at the center of silicate, surrounded by oxygen and hydrogen atoms.

This article has more:

Silica In Reef Aquariums

Why would I recommend dosing silica? Largely because creatures in our tanks use it, the concentrations in our tanks (at least in mine) are below natural levels, and the sponges, mollusks, and diatoms may not be getting enough to thrive.

reefs.com

 

[Icedog]

Thanks for your reply, Randy, and the article.

It seems like the Hanna Checker would work for my purposes. But now I'm not sure which one to purchase:

1. The Low Silica Checker's range is 0.00 - 2.00 ppm and the resolution is 0.1 ppm.

2. The High Silica Checker's range is 0 - 200 ppm and the resolution is 1 ppm.

I'm guessing the Low Range Checker would be best for me, but would love to hear your input on this.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t know for sure that it works in seawater so I’d ask them, but the
Low range is the right range.

 

[Icedog]

I don’t know for sure that it works in seawater so I’d ask them, but the
Low range is the right range.

Tks again for your help, Randy! Will definitely check with Hanna before purchasing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Let us know what they say. :)

 

[Icedog]

Let us know what they say. :)

Today I spoke with Ryan at Hanna Instruments, and she had some good info for me:

The silica checker was originally designed to be used on RODI water, and no in-house testing has been done to check its accuracy on salt water. So Hanna cannot vouch for its use in salt water.

However, the people at Hanna have heard of reefers using it on their saltwater tanks with supposedly good results. How do the reefers know the results were good? No definitive explanation was given, but maybe the Hanna silica results were compared to another method of testing for silica???

But that brings up another question: Can the results of a silica test be accurately compared to the results of a silicon or silicate test?

Tks again for all your help with this, Randy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Today I spoke with Ryan at Hanna Instruments, and she had some good info for me:

The silica checker was originally designed to be used on RODI water, and no in-house testing has been done to check its accuracy on salt water. So Hanna cannot vouch for its use in salt water.

However, the people at Hanna have heard of reefers using it on their saltwater tanks with supposedly good results. How do the reefers know the results were good? No definitive explanation was given, but maybe the Hanna silica results were compared to another method of testing for silica???

But that brings up another question: Can the results of a silica test be accurately compared to the results of a silicon or silicate test?

Tks again for all your help with this, Randy.

There is no silicon test except icp. A silica and silicate test are the same thing. Neither actually detects SIO2 since that is not really a thing in the water, just a way of reporting it.

An icp can detect particulates of silica, such as inside a diatom, if not filtered out before testing.

 

[Clittrell]

Older thread but did you ever buy the Hanna checker. I am dosing silicate to get rid of Dino’s and the seachem test is so hard to reed the results.

 

[Icedog]

Older thread but did you ever buy the Hanna checker. I am dosing silicate to get rid of Dino’s and the seachem test is so hard to reed the results.

Yes, I did get the Hanna Low-Range Silica Checker and have been using it for several months now. It seems to work fine, but I only use it to test my RODI water and not my tank water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m not sure it’s worth checking tank levels when dosing silicate. It’s not like one needs to maintain a certain level.

 

[Clittrell]

Thanks for all the updates. Appreciate the help!