Silicate Dosing for Reef Tanks

[EnterName]

I have been battling Dinos so I decided to try Silicate dosing. I have made two weekly doses. It looks like I am now getting Diatoms because the sand used to clear at night and now the brown color is more visible when the lights start to come on. Would that be the correct assessment?

And then how long should I dose the silicate? and then how long will it take for the diatom to disappear after I stop dosing the silicate?

Anything else I should be doing? I do run a UV. Does cleaning the sand actually help?

Thanks.

If the brown stains stay at night, that doesn't automatically mean it's diatoms, but it's a decent indicator. If you can get your hands on a cheap microscope, that would be the easiest way to see how effective the silicate dosing is and when to stop. Personally, I assume diatom dosing is only effective when done in large quantities, because diatoms and dinoflagellates co-exist and some dinoflagellates can even prey on diatoms. So for an actual effect, you want a fairly dense diatom population.

In my opinion, manual removal and/or cleaning the substrate to force dinoflagellates into the water column so the UV can pick them up is a good idea. Unfortunately, this will also knock back the diatoms a bit, but if cleaning doesn't work out for you or it reduces the diatom cell count too much, you can simply stop cleaning the substrate.

Edit: Again Randy beat me to it... dang that guy is fast

 

[Patrick Cox]

Will vacuuming the sand through a filter sock work? do I need a certain density of filter sock? Or do I need to use some sort of mechanical filter like is used in RODI systems? And should I do this when the lights are fully on and the sand is at its dirtiest? Thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Will vacuuming the sand through a filter sock work? do I need a certain density of filter sock? Or do I need to use some sort of mechanical filter like is used in RODI systems? And should I do this when the lights are fully on and the sand is at its dirtiest? Thanks.

Diatoms usually encrust and may not vacuum up, and I'm not thinking one wants to remove them since it is the blocking of physical sites by diatoms that prevents dinos from attaching (IMO).