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So, i have been daily dosing sodium silicate for a long while now. I initially mixed up a solution that i calculated to raise the tank level of silicates by 1ppm with an addition of 3ml. Currently i dose 5ml of that per day.
I dont know if i just didnt notice it before or whether it started recently, but for a month now i am seeing a pattern: I manually dose the whole dose of the day in the morning by adding it dripwise into a surface skimmer in batches over an hour or so. With a delay of a few seconds (which should align with the speed of the moving water) after adding the first batch, around 1ml or so, which should be +0.33ppm silicates in the whole tank, i notice that my flame scallop and the zoas getting the most flow, quickly react by closing up. Other inhabitants (zoas with less flow, one zoa sitting between the main two that are affected, SPS, LPS) seem to not react visibly.
What could this be? Does that "small" dose already have a considerable effect on tank PH? Did i maybe get a concentration gradient in the sodium silicate solution and i am dosing more than i think? Is dosing it directly into the intake of an eheim skim350 not enough to chop it up and dilute it?
I dont know if i just didnt notice it before or whether it started recently, but for a month now i am seeing a pattern: I manually dose the whole dose of the day in the morning by adding it dripwise into a surface skimmer in batches over an hour or so. With a delay of a few seconds (which should align with the speed of the moving water) after adding the first batch, around 1ml or so, which should be +0.33ppm silicates in the whole tank, i notice that my flame scallop and the zoas getting the most flow, quickly react by closing up. Other inhabitants (zoas with less flow, one zoa sitting between the main two that are affected, SPS, LPS) seem to not react visibly.
What could this be? Does that "small" dose already have a considerable effect on tank PH? Did i maybe get a concentration gradient in the sodium silicate solution and i am dosing more than i think? Is dosing it directly into the intake of an eheim skim350 not enough to chop it up and dilute it?
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