Phosphate+Silicate Magnet

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linda lee

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Seeking feedback on the use of this (or a similar) product.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/14633/product.web">http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/14633/product.web</a>

I know ... most are saying I just gotta wait out the diatom bloom and it'll eventually go away, but my tank is so brown brown BROWN. Sure looks like the diatom is attaching permanently to the rocks, sand and glass. Coulda sworn I saw a hermit crab using windshield wipers.

:shout: Help!!! I don't want Loren's tank looking BETTER than mine.
 
As long as it doesn't leach, like it does then your fine. How new is the tank? Have you tested your silicate level?
 
33 gal learner/starter tank was *born* on June 16th, so it's pretty new.

Set it up with plenty of LR and LS and water has always tested perfect. We were told by the LFS that since the water was fine after a week, we might not actually cycle and it would be okay to add starter fish. (We didn't know any better then and used to take the advice of the LFS as gospel; we've since learned of ARC through one of your members [thanks GordoB] and now know better.)

So....... with the addition of more LR from time to time over the past 3 weeks, we could be going through an actual cycle now (or a series of mini-cycles). Tank residents (just some damsels and a CUC) don't really seem to mind and the water continues to test fine. Haven't witnessed any nitrite/nitrate spikes to actually indicate a cycle. (Worries me though that we're not seeing pods and I'm wondering if we should seed them.)

Believe my lights were staying on too long (96Wx2 PCs) and contributing to algea bloom, so I've cut the cycle back to 1-hr actinic/10-hr 10K/1-hr actinic. We'll see if we need to cut it back more, but now I have a few frags and don't really want to deprive them of light.

Haven't tested for silicates (don't have any sophisticated testing equipment ~ ~ can the LFS test for that?) and haven't used tap water since initial set-up when we mixed the salt water.

Ummm.... what do you mean by *leaching* and how will I know if that happens? Please don't tell me any of this brown is permanent. I have some LR that I'm especially fond of and prefer it in purple and green attire.

~LL

P.S. ~ wondering if this could be a factor: tank has a mirrored back. (I know, not good for SW fish, but this is a tank we had on hand and we just didn't know any better.) Wondering now if the mirror is reflecting/upping the light and adding to the algea bloom.
 
Leeching is when anything that you put into you tank releases stuff you don't want into your tank. For example when you use GAC and it reaches its absorption capacity it can leech out some of the "unwanteds" out into the water. Lets just say that you do a big water change with nice clean water if the carbon has no more absorption left in it sometime it can take the stuff it took out of the dirty water and pollute your nice new clean water you just put in.
 
Thanks!

So how would I know if diatom algea is leaching?

When I use the mag float on the glass, the brown comes off like dust in the water. Is this a bad thing? Am I just spreading it?

When the snails move across the glass, they leave a sparkling clean track (I think one of them is a Nascar snail... his particular track looks familiar). Problem is, they don't do it enough to keep up with this. Should I add in a bunch more snails? At least on a temporary basis? Or would that give me too much bioload?

Grrrrrr... so much to learn... stuff I do affects other stuff I've done which will affect something ELSE

:(


:(
 
Its not the algae that is leeching it would be the absorber. The stuff you posted a link to. I guess you would run that stuff in a phosban reactor.

I clean off the stuff alot. All my corals and my free feather dusters that came with my rock love the stuff.
 
I think you should just wait it out. Even after diatoms your tank will see more algae blooms as it matures. You can use a turkey blaster toblow the diatom off the rock and sand bed.
 
Diatoms aren't necessarily a bad thing. Whenever that brown stuff is knocked off your glass, that is food for a large variety of critters in your tank. A diatom bloom can help feed those starter organisms. Don't worry... the snails will eventually chew it up once the silicate level in the tank goes down.
 
Leave the diatoms be. They're good for you Linda :).

Eventually the diatom bloom will go away, because the silicates will be used by the sponges. We can all use more sponges, they are very beneficial filter feeders :). Be patient! Only failure awaits the impatient! For example: I guarantee that the product you linked is aluminum based which WILL leach into your system and high amounts can be toxic...
 
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