Dosing silicates for general chemistry or just for dinos

[Reefahholic]

I do not agree. It spurs organisms that use it (sponges, diatoms, etc.) , but dino's are not one of them. Some dinos are heterotrophs that can consume diatoms.

Who had Dino’s in his tank and witnessed it over several months of dosing Si and who didn’t. It 100% fuels Ostreopsis. The end.

 

[Miami Reef]

Who had Dino’s in his tank and witnessed it over several months of dosing Si and who didn’t. It 100% fuels Ostreopsis. The end.

Dude. Calm down. Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t make something a fact. You seriously need to chill out.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Dude. Calm down. Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t make something a fact. You seriously need to chill out.

He's like this everywhere!

 

[Reefahholic]

Dude. Calm down. Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t make something a fact. You seriously need to chill out.

Well, when I literally see the Dino’s explode every time I was dosing it…that’s a pretty clear indication for me. I don’t feel the need to run a scientific experiment for every observation.

I find it funny that somebody’s arguing with me about it when he’s probably never had Dino’s, and if he did, it likely wasn’t the same species.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

 

[Miami Reef]

Well, when I literally see the Dino’s explode every time I was dosing it…that’s a pretty clear indication for me. I don’t feel the need to run a scientific experiment for every observation.

I find it funny that somebody’s arguing with me about it when he’s probably never had Dino’s, and if he did, it likely wasn’t the same species.

I’ve dealt with dinos many times in the past. If dosing silica causes dinos, then my tank and many tanks who have successfully beat dinos with silica would be infested with them.

Take a look at this:

Causal fallacy​

A causal fallacy is one that implies a relationship between two things where one can’t actually be proven.

Example: When ice cream sales are up, so are shark attacks. Therefore, buying ice cream increases your risk of being bitten by a shark.

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You’ve seen them on social media. You’ve heard them in movie dialogue. Heck, you’ve probably even used them yourself. They’re logical…

www.grammarly.com

 

[Reefahholic]

I’ve dealt with dinos many times in the past. If dosing silica causes dinos, then my tank and many tanks who have successfully beat dinos with silica would be infested with them.

Take a look at this:

15 Logical Fallacies to Know, With Definitions and Examples

You’ve seen them on social media. You’ve heard them in movie dialogue. Heck, you’ve probably even used them yourself. They’re logical…

www.grammarly.com

I didn’t say it causes Dino’s. I said it was fueling mine and making them blow up worse after dosing. That was repeated every single time I dosed Si, and this was even with a very tiny dose spread out 150x daily with only 0.1mL hitting the water. I can only imagine if somebody tried to dose 1-2 ppm in one shot. I do think it’s beneficial longterm, because adding more competition like Diatoms is smart.

Maybe it would be different for LCA, Coolia, Prorocentrum, Amphi, etc. I can only speak for Ostreopsis. I’ve never had any of the others.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Who had Dino’s in his tank and witnessed it over several months of dosing Si and who didn’t. It 100% fuels Ostreopsis. The end.

Was he a moonshine user? If so, then moonshine use fuels dinos.

Did he dose calcium? Fuels dinos. The end.

Alk? Magnesium?

Used salt water?

Used artificial lighting?

Used electric pumps.

All fueled his dinos. The end.

Or, maybe it was a coincidence, a contaminated silicate product, or something else, rather than a use for silicate by dinos that is not known to the world of s hence.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well, when I literally see the Dino’s explode every time I was dosing it…that’s a pretty clear indication for me. I don’t feel the need to run a scientific experiment for every observation.

I find it funny that somebody’s arguing with me about it when he’s probably never had Dino’s, and if he did, it likely wasn’t the same species.

What exactly were you dosing?

 

[buruskeee]

I got my LR Silicate Hanna Checker. Over the course of a week, I dosed 3ml total silcate in 150g. The checker reads >2.00ppm. My RODI w/ DI (Airwaterice tyhoon 3) with brand new filters and DI reads .39ppm. I should try tap... Obviously .39 didn't keep the dinos away. Before the dinos, I didn't have any trouble. Over the course of 12 years, I had cyno twice so .39ppm hasn't been a bad thing. I should also do an ICP to see if the meter is accurate. Over the course of a week of dosing silicates, I've notice a lot more algae growth and some cyno starting on my sandbed. I need to take a sample and look at it under the microscope and make sure I'm not just feeding the dinos.

It’s been a while, how’d it go?

 

[Mikeltee]

Same. I never dealt with dinos, but I dose a lot of silica. I don’t have a diatom problem. I grow diatoms on the glass, but eventually coralline takes over (before I scrape it off lol).

Diatoms is free phytoplankton when you scrape it, and is less sightly than the green algae it replaces. It’s food for copepods and snails. It’s also grows sponges.

Why wouldn’t you dose it?

What PPM do you target? I ended up starting over due to a leak. It was a blessing in disguise. Im culturing pods and phyto, but diatoms for food and potential dino deterrent sounds good to me. I have this huge bottle of silicates and a Hanna checker so I may as well try it out too. I'm thinking about maintaining 1ppm...

 

[Mikeltee]

It’s been a while, how’d it go?

No help with the dinos. I maintained roughly 3ppm for about 2 months and towards the end when I finally saw one diatom under the microscope the tank blew a leak. I never had a bloom. Now that the tank is up and running again with sterile rock, I am considering dosing it as a PM to dinos as well as food for the tank. Randy mentioned that it's fuel for sponges. I don't have any sponges in my main as it's a bottle bacteria build, but I did start another 40g in my office to attempt unconventional methods with. I placed 4# of live rock with sponge with 50# dry rock and added coral on day 1. It's doing awesome a few weeks in. Dosing silicates is unconventional so it's right up my alley. Any other suggestions? I'm considering dosing H2O2 at 1ml/10g daily. It's in my build thread.

 

[Miami Reef]

What PPM do you target? I ended up starting over due to a leak. It was a blessing in disguise. Im culturing pods and phyto, but diatoms for food and potential dino deterrent sounds good to me. I have this huge bottle of silicates and a Hanna checker so I may as well try it out too. I'm thinking about maintaining 1ppm...

I dose 1-2ppm once a week.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No help with the dinos. I maintained roughly 3ppm for about 2 months and towards the end when I finally saw one diatom under the microscope the tank blew a leak. I never had a bloom.

Were you tracking nitrate and phosphate? It’s pretty unusual to not see any diatoms when dosing silicate. Perhaps something else was limiting them.

 

[Mikeltee]

Yes, I was doing weekly testing. With 2 years without a water change and a year with no skimmer, my nutrients were still rather low. I'm guessing .1 and 25. The dinos killed everything but a few fish and I have a lot of LR.