Does silicone translate to silicates? (1 Viewer)

[Cody]

Tanks a little off lately so I sent in an ICP test. Everything looked good but silicone was a little higher than usual at 290mg/L. I looked at historical tests and it’s normally around 150mg/L.

Does silicone translate to silicates in the way that you can get an idea of phosphates by looking at phosphorus?

 

[Reefahholic]

Tanks a little off lately so I sent in an ICP test. Everything looked good but silicone was a little higher than usual at 290mg/L. I looked at historical tests and it’s normally around 150mg/L.

Does silicone translate to silicates in the way that you can get an idea of phosphates by looking at phosphorus?

Yes, but 290 is fine. I was targeting 2-3K when I was playing with the Dino’s. You can literally dose 50x the normal level and nothing bad will happen other than a diatom bloom.

It could be coming through your filters. If you want to reduce that level just buy a silicate buster and put it in the last stage of your DI. They’re very effective, but I ended up removing mine because a little silicate is always good for the sponge population.

If it’s not coming through your filters it’s probably in something you’re adding to the system, but I wouldn’t worry about it unless you’re having some problems with diatoms.

My last analysis was 255

 

[Reefahholic]

The only problem I’m having Cody is that these PC Rainbow’s on the bottom keep growing into other frags. The need to be trimmed.

 

[Cody]

The only problem I’m having Cody is that these PC Rainbow’s on the bottom keep growing into other frags. The need to be trimmed.

PC Rainbow is a great canary coral! It's the first to lose color when things are off, but it's very hardy and always bounces back. Not to mention, it's a classic for a reason!

As far as the silicone, I know that corals require a little, and I wasn't too concerned with it, but I didn't have much perspective of how high mine is. I don't have much frame of reference because mine always seemed in check, so I never paid it much attention.

 

[Reefahholic]

PC Rainbow is a great canary coral! It's the first to lose color when things are off, but it's very hardy and always bounces back. Not to mention, it's a classic for a reason!

As far as the silicone, I know that corals require a little, and I wasn't too concerned with it, but I didn't have much perspective of how high mine is. I don't have much frame of reference because mine always seemed in check, so I never paid it much attention.

I’d say you’re in a pretty good place. I welcome some Si in my system, and don’t worry when it’s flagging on ICP, because I know not much is coming though my filters. I dose it usually to target between 150-300 or so. It definitely helps get some diatoms in the system (which IMO are beneficial to have around in decent numbers), but they don’t bloom until the Si is over 1 ppm. One thing you have to watch is when you get over 2 ppm the Si can start skewing Hanna checker results. It will make them read higher. If that is the case you’d want to switch over to Red Sea or a different test kit.

Here’s a graph from Taricha over on R2R where they did test that theory.










Here’s an interesting read about Diatoms from the Monterey Bay Aquarium:

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/diatoms

 

[Cody]

I’d say you’re in a pretty good place. I welcome some Si in my system, and don’t worry when it’s flagging on ICP, because I know not much is coming though my filters. I dose it usually to target between 150-300 or so. It definitely helps get some diatoms in the system (which IMO are beneficial to have around in decent numbers), but they don’t bloom until the Si is over 1 ppm. One thing you have to watch is when you get over 2 ppm the Si can start skewing Hanna checker results. It will make them read higher. If that is the case you’d want to switch over to Red Sea or a different test kit.

Here’s a graph from Taricha over on R2R where they did test that theory.










Here’s an interesting read about Diatoms from the Monterey Bay Aquarium:

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/diatoms

I like the line in the article: "diatoms live in glass houses" haha