Pinner Reef Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Wait, what type did you get? Is there a silica additive for aquariums? I never thought there would be... Haha I was looking for the purest soluble form I could find and got nervous because I suck at chemistry. Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Went bananas looking for the source. Okay, this is what I bought, not from eBay or maybe they have an ebay presence but the jar I have is this company http://www.theceramicshop.com/store/product/314/Sodium-Silicate-Pint/ Link to comment
markalot Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Crap, just read the update. Sorry you're having issues with dinos. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Went bananas looking for the source. Okay, this is what I bought, not from eBay or maybe they have an ebay presence but the jar I have is this company http://www.theceramicshop.com/store/product/314/Sodium-Silicate-Pint/ There we go... Didn't know if I should just try and get it in liquid form or not. That looks about as good as I could hope to get. Thanks Kitteh! Crap, just read the update. Sorry you're having issues with dinos. Thanks... Should be a learning experience if nothing else. Link to comment
vlangel Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Ah pinner, I had seen the other thread you started about dinos but I didn't realize just how bad they were. I feel sad for all you are going through! :-( Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 Thanks again... It's pretty rough but I'm making progress in fighting them back. Link to comment
vlangel Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Thanks again... It's pretty rough but I'm making progress in fighting them back. That's a bummer but I am happy to hear that things are moving in the right direction. Keep at it and you will beat them! Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Alright soo I have been making a little progress on the dino fight. Only a little. The Diatomaceous Earth is doing a really good job of catching the dinos running thru the reactor. The problem is it gunks itself up really quick so I end up having to change it every couple of days. I had what I thought was a bacterial bloom shortly after removing my sand and started dosing microbacter7. Later, under the microscope, I realized it was just dinos floating around that had changed from a rust color to a opaque color. Don't know what this signifies, as all the dinos started to change to this color then went back to the rust color in a matter of days. I have some of this coming this week And a silica test kit ready to start dosing. I'm pretty nervous about this test as everything in my experience tells me the last thing I want to do during an algae outbreak is to throw silicates at the tank. There is enough documentation to prove that the theory sound tho so here goes. Wish me luck Link to comment
vlangel Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 I feel terrified for you! Not because I don't think it can work but because it just seems like such a drastic measure. I used Nualgi (which I know a lot of folks said was just throwing my money away)and it contains a silica base in a nano form. I felt that it got my cyano under control and I definitely had amazing PE from my LPS. The diatom bloom that resulted was never an issue as they were immediately consumed. Anyway, I am wishing you luck! Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 I feel terrified for you! Not because I don't think it can work but because it just seems like such a drastic measure. I used Nualgi (which I know a lot of folks said was just throwing my money away)and it contains a silica base in a nano form. I felt that it got my cyano under control and I definitely had amazing PE from my LPS. The diatom bloom that resulted was never an issue as they were immediately consumed. Anyway, I am wishing you luck! What did you have for CUC and in what size tank, the one that you used Nualgi in? Thanks. Link to comment
vlangel Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 What did you have for CUC and in what size tank, the one that you used Nualgi in? Thanks. It was my 36g bowfront. I have hermit crabs and a serpent starfish as CUC. I did not have real bad cyano, just a little rust color on the surface of the sandbed. I discontinued it because I was connecting the seahorse tank and I was not comfortable with using a fairly new product with no data on how it could potentially affect the ponies. I personally had nothing bad to say about it. I got the impression that it was not as effective on SPS as LPS. Perhaps it worked better if a system was not ultra low nutrient, IDK? Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 I feel terrified for you! Not because I don't think it can work but because it just seems like such a drastic measure. I used Nualgi (which I know a lot of folks said was just throwing my money away)and it contains a silica base in a nano form. I felt that it got my cyano under control and I definitely had amazing PE from my LPS. The diatom bloom that resulted was never an issue as they were immediately consumed. Anyway, I am wishing you luck! It's actually not an entirely crazy plan. Well, maybe the hope that Diatoms can out compete the dinos. Here is an article on dosing Silica. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/aafeature1 Link to comment
vlangel Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 It's actually not an entirely crazy plan. Well, maybe the hope that Diatoms can out compete the dinos. Here is an article on dosing Silica. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/aafeature1 That is a fascinating article pinner, thanks for sharing. When I used Nualgi I read a lot of research papers that one of their reps sent me. Most of those dealt with commercial uses of silica base products. I do remember reading about the sponges which intrigued me because lots of seahorse tanks add sponges to get red or yellow colored hitches so the ponies will color up. I just couldn't verify it was completely safe for seahorses, (although it probably is).After reading that article I wouldn't be nervous any more. It made me wonder about my sand? I bought play sand, (at home depots) in 2004. I was young and dumb (ok, maybe only dumb) but I was using it to put a DSB in my 90g and it was cheap. And because I am cheap I used that same sandbed when I downsized to my current 36g bowfront. Probably not the smartest decision but I hate to mess with it now and maybe it's dissolving beneficial soluble silica? Anyway, thanks again for the article. Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Pinner, do you think diatoms with silica dosing can outcompete cyano too? Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 That is a fascinating article pinner, thanks for sharing. When I used Nualgi I read a lot of research papers that one of their reps sent me. Most of those dealt with commercial uses of silica base products. I do remember reading about the sponges which intrigued me because lots of seahorse tanks add sponges to get red or yellow colored hitches so the ponies will color up. I just couldn't verify it was completely safe for seahorses, (although it probably is). After reading that article I wouldn't be nervous any more. It made me wonder about my sand? I bought play sand, (at home depots) in 2004. I was young and dumb (ok, maybe only dumb) but I was using it to put a DSB in my 90g and it was cheap. And because I am cheap I used that same sandbed when I downsized to my current 36g bowfront. Probably not the smartest decision but I hate to mess with it now and maybe it's dissolving beneficial soluble silica? Anyway, thanks again for the article. Sure thing on the article. And don't worry about the sand We've all done that kind of thing. I would also be nervous to do anything with your sandbed if it's that old tho. My was about the same age and there was way more detritus than I'd ever expect in the spots my gravel vac wouldn't reach. Really kinda interesting to see what was in there as I pulled it out, but I caused a small ammonia spike along the way. Pinner, do you think diatoms with silica dosing can outcompete cyano too? That's a pretty good question. They are fighting over the same nutrients so it's feasible. I guess it comes down to which can process nutrients more efficiently. Might be worth a shot since you have some lying around. Maybe boost up the silica a little for a week and see what happens? I'd be super worried to experiment on your tank tho. Lol it's different when mine is struggling already. Then again excess Diatoms are not the worst problem to have. Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 I have diatoms all over right now, the DI resin on the RODI needed replacing. Everything is that poopy yellowy-brown. I like green on the glass a lot more than I do this brown. Sand has it too. I don;t have enough diatom cleaners. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 Have you noticed the cyano getting better or worse? Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 it isn't worse. But it isn't better either. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 I'd imagine with your feeding schedule the tank would have to have a pretty massive diatom bloom in order to completely starve out the Cyano. Along with that you actually have a fuge/reactors/etc which should be competing as well. Honestly with all that and the incredible water movement in your tank I'm surprised you even have any cyano. How to get rid of it is beyond me especially since it is such a localized colony. My best "out of the box idea" would be a dip in an Erythromycin bath . Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Well, the cyano shows up on this one SPS coral which is half skeleton, half sad looking flesh. It isn't mounted on anything, just sitting around on the sand. The only other place I see the cyano is on the frag rack. I'm not overreacting though. At mid-day I have to baste away the bubbles that form otherwise the cyano starts to creep on the frags themselves and will smother the base. Link to comment
vlangel Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Sure thing on the article. And don't worry about the sand We've all done that kind of thing. I would also be nervous to do anything with your sandbed if it's that old tho. My was about the same age and there was way more detritus than I'd ever expect in the spots my gravel vac wouldn't reach. Really kinda interesting to see what was in there as I pulled it out, but I caused a small ammonia spike along the way. The only way I would risk anything now is isolating the 36g tank, move as much of the livestock and rock into a 20L (my light fixture fits the 20) and the 10g QT. Then I would syphon out or remove all the sand except the top inch which I would save to re-seed the new sand. I think I would do a very quick scrub, add the new sand (with the old sand on the top)the rockwork, and livestock minus the lyretail anthias and immediately refill. I should be able to do it all in one day. I would add biospira or some sort of nitrifying bacteria and use power heads for flow and watch for a cycle, (which hopefully is minimal and controlled with water changes). I will not connect it to the seahorse tank until I know it is stable. One of the tricky things is my seahorse tank benefits from the large dense rocks in the 36g. I probably should sell my 2 baby seahorses before I consider tackling this. That's why I am dragging my feet. There are just too many things that I don't want to do. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted April 23, 2015 Author Share Posted April 23, 2015 lol reminds me of when I was working at the LFS. It's like playing that game traffic jam where you have to get all the cars out of the parking lot. It sounds like a pretty safe/solid plan though. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted September 20, 2015 Author Share Posted September 20, 2015 Damn you Lawn... maybe if I get drunk enough I'll write the eulogy tonight. Link to comment
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