Instant Ocean and diatoms

[LoneStarReef]

Cyanobacteria has always been rust-colored like that in my tank and grown primarily on the glass and sand rather than the rockwork. When I get diatom blooms after dosing especially high silica concentrations, it shows up on my rockwork first and tends to be slightly more yellow/gold than in that photo. Totally anecdotal and just my opinion... but given the age of your tank I'd guess that's one of the many species of cyano. You could always pick up a silica test kit if in doubt, though. The reason I'm skeptical that it's diatoms is that most established tanks will see almost all of their free silica used almost as quickly as it's added because sponges in the rockwork can pull it out of the water extremely fast.

If it is cyano, Chemiclean works wonders and is usually reef-safe if not dosed in excess, in a well-oxygenated tank, and followed by a large water change. Some people have reported fish losses, though that seems to be rare.

Now that I think about it, I have had quite a few red spots popping up on my rocks. I used to think it was red coralline algae but now I am wondering. However it doesn’t feel slimy or come off the rocks easily? I scraped it with my finger nails and it didn’t scrape off.

I will try to reduce nutrients, do large water changes and blow off the rocks frequently and see if that changes things. Want to try the natural path first and then use Chemiclean as a last resort.

 

[ZoWhat]

IO is mfgred in massive production runs with slight inconsistent mixture of elements. No other salt is massively produced more than IO.

How can a product produced by the dumptruck load hourly yield high quality, "spot on" elements and trace elements?

Anyone wanting to get into a heated debate saying they've used IO successfully since WWII (lol)....is only trying to validate their choice in buying an inexpensive, mass produced salt

IMO they are having success with IO.....but the bigger question is: .....how much more success would they'd be having with a better salt? 50% more growth? 25% brighter deeper colors?

An answer never to be discovered bc of their IO loyalty. Heck, its their tank, let 'em do what they do.....

Debate with me if you want....you ain't changing my mind after Googling site after site after site saying it's an inexpensive, inconsistent salt


.

 

[Jerry Ebner]

IO is mfgred in massive production runs with slight inconsistent mixture of elements. No other salt is massively produced more than IO.

How can a product produced by the dumptruck load hourly yield high quality, "spot on" elements and trace elements?

Anyone wanting to get into a heated debate saying they've used IO successfully since WWII (lol)....is only trying to validate their choice in buying an inexpensive, mass produced salt

IMO they are having success with IO.....but the bigger question is: .....how much more success would they'd be having with a better salt? 50% more growth? 25% brighter deeper colors?

An answer never to be discovered bc of their IO loyalty. Heck, its their tank, let 'em do what they do.....

Debate with me if you want....you ain't changing my mind after Googling site after site after site saying it's an inexpensive, inconsistent salt


.

I think it comes up to what you like and want to use reef crystals has done me well in two years of reefing why mess with what works. But hey if you want to use another salt more expensive salts are likely to have elevated levels to IO. It's not a fair comparison. You get what you pay for. And IO treats many fine. Use what you like.

 

[Caribbean_Shark]

I used to buy my water pre mixed with no issues. As soon as I started making my own with instant ocean I’m experiencing the same problem. I went many years without any issues when buying pre mixed..

 

[chaoticreefer]

I have used IO for most of my reefkeeping life. All of sudden IO turned cloudy for me with every new batch of sw. It had gotten so bad that I had to buy a pond air pump for mixing to spatter it out, only then the water would be clear. I suspected it was both something in my tap and IO, but could never pinpoint it out. The spattered residue would be yellowish off white solid left on the rime of my barrel. When the Doctors came out with their version of salt, I tried it out. I ended up liking it and it mixed clean. I am now trying HW Reefer salt, I am loving it even more, it mixes clean within 30 minutes and ready to be used right there on the spot.

I am not bashing IO, it's a good salt for large majority of people as it was for me for a long time but within a snap something changed for me.

Edit: When I say my tap, I mean something within my tap, but still gets through my 6 stage RODI system. I have gone through many RODI cartridges changes and still had clouding problems.

 

[Lowefx]

I have used IO for most of my reefkeeping life. All of sudden IO turned cloudy for me with every new batch of sw. It had gotten so bad that I had to buy a pond air pump for mixing to spatter it out, only then the water would be clear. I suspected it was both something in my tap and IO, but could never pinpoint it out. The spattered residue would be yellowish off white solid left on the rime of my barrel. When the Doctors came out with their version of salt, I tried it out. I ended up liking it and it mixed clean. I am now trying HW Reefer salt, I am loving it even more, it mixes clean within 30 minutes and ready to be used right there on the spot.

I am not bashing IO, it's a good salt for large majority of people as it was for me for a long time but within a snap something changed for me.

Edit: When I say my tap, I mean something within my tap, but still gets through my 6 stage RODI system. I have gone through many RODI cartridges changes and still had clouding problems.

I agree. Also been using IORC for 7+ years, no major issues until last year. I do run more lighting than most and with every water change, sometimes 2 a week, they come back with vengeance. I'm glad I'm not the only person with these issues, which tells me I need to switch salt mix.
I'm just now getting done with a 3 day black out, and a week with Rowaphos to remove silicate. We will see how it works out in a few days.
Also about 3 months ago, I was having po4 issues bad and I pin pointed that it was coming from the IORC batch. I called them up and they replaced my mix. New mix was much better than the bad mix, but it just goes to show that things do happen. For good or bad. But the company treated me fair.
I will also be double checking my Di.
Tagging along for info

 

[LoneStarReef]

I agree. Also been using IORC for 7+ years, no major issues until last year. I do run more lighting than most and with every water change, sometimes 2 a week, they come back with vengeance. I'm glad I'm not the only person with these issues, which tells me I need to switch salt mix.
I'm just now getting done with a 3 day black out, and a week with Rowaphos to remove silicate. We will see how it works out in a few days.
Also about 3 months ago, I was having po4 issues bad and I pin pointed that it was coming from the IORC batch. I called them up and they replaced my mix. New mix was much better than the bad mix, but it just goes to show that things do happen. For good or bad. But the company treated me fair.
I will also be double checking my Di.
Tagging along for info

Very interesting. I assume you tested the IO batch for PO4? What was the level? I will test mine tomorrow.

 

[madweazl]

IO is mfgred in massive production runs with slight inconsistent mixture of elements. No other salt is massively produced more than IO.

How can a product produced by the dumptruck load hourly yield high quality, "spot on" elements and trace elements?

Anyone wanting to get into a heated debate saying they've used IO successfully since WWII (lol)....is only trying to validate their choice in buying an inexpensive, mass produced salt

IMO they are having success with IO.....but the bigger question is: .....how much more success would they'd be having with a better salt? 50% more growth? 25% brighter deeper colors?

An answer never to be discovered bc of their IO loyalty. Heck, its their tank, let 'em do what they do.....

Debate with me if you want....you ain't changing my mind after Googling site after site after site saying it's an inexpensive, inconsistent salt


.

What's missing? Want to grab some acroporas from the same source and do a grow out and coloration challenge? I dose two part and do weekly water changes of roughly 13%. I add nothing else to the tank but LRS for the majority of the fish, a littleneck clam for the CBB, and some algae sheets for the tang. No amino acids, no phytos, no Reefroids, nothing else. People are loyal to the products that give them results; if a salt mix provided 50% better results, people would be using it...

Edit: Forgot to add that we moved a couple of months ago; we setup another tank at the new house, filled with fresh IO (salinity and alkalinity matched), tore down the old tank, set it back up at the new house, refilled that one with fresh IO, and transfered the fish and corals to it. No diatoms, no cyano, no dinos, no problems. The sand sat in two, 5g buckets for three and a half days and that didnt cause any issues either.

 

[PDR]

I too have noticed some extra diatoms after a large water change with IO. I can't be certain it wasn't related to my source water or most likely dosing Reef Energy. I have since stopped dosing Reef Energy and am doing daily wc's with IO and have only seen an increase in diatoms in my fuge, and even that has a possible explanation that has nothing to do with IO.

Edit: Confirmed my issues were from the Reef Energy and not IO.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Commercial salt mixes only contain a fraction of silica present in natural seawater. https://reefhub.pl/test-of-marine-salts/
Silica is removed by GFO.
Passing tapwater over GFO instead of IO will remove silica, phosphate , copper and metals but maintain most minerals and trace elements.

Copepods eat diatoms, this way diatoms will become part of the food chain.

 

[taricha]

The OP's pic is almost certainly dinoflagellates.
(I suspect almost everyone who thinks diatoms are awful actually has dinos)

 

[drblakjak55]

I’m in the keep it simple school. IO Reef since starting three years ago. Works fine for me.
The brown stuff on the sand will be eliminated in two weeks. Half shot vodka daily (90g tank). Try it.
Let me know

 

[chaoticreefer]

So keep doing shots until your tank looks better.

 

[Night Reefer]

It would be nice if we knew more about the tank.
What are all your parameters.?
How old is your tank?

I had this issue also and I used IO not the reef crystals.

 

[Night Reefer]

The OP's pic is almost certainly dinoflagellates.
(I suspect almost everyone who thinks diatoms are awful actually has dinos)

This is not the op pics

 

[taricha]

This is not the op pics

I should have quoted the post I was referencing for clarity...

Tank is about 9 months old. Here is a pic

this looks way more like dinos than diatoms to my eye.

 

[biophilia]

As with anything in this hobby, lots of different opinions and lots of different ways to skin a cat. Almost any algae species can be starved by targeting a limiting nutrient (like phosphate) or supplying a healthy population of small/micro herbivores (ranging from copepods to larger snails and hermits). If it's diatoms, they can be eliminated quickly by limiting phosphates or expanding your copepod and snail population... trochus are especially good. Whether or not you have elevated silca is probably not worth even considering because there's very little chance it's present in numbers that will be problematic to an established tank unless something really unusual is going on.

Cyanobacteria can be eliminated holistically pretty easily by out-competing it with a tiny (usually non-visible) dusting of diatoms. This is accomplished by dosing silica and is often used to quickly correct cyano blooms in freshwater lakes. There's a decent amount of scientific literature to support its use in that way and I've had a lot of success with it personally. Cyano is sometimes hard to get rid of without either out-competing or going all out and dosing an anti-bacterial agent like Chemiclean because it can survive by directly fixing nitrogen gas into ammonia in low-nutrient environments. Carbon sources like vodka and vinegar can also encourage cyano growth if dosed in excess -- especially in tanks with low flow.

Just guessing, but I'm doubting you're experiencing a dinoflagellate bloom given the lack of stringy, gooey, bubblyness... I hope I'm right because they can be a real pain.

 

[Night Reefer]

I had this issue and did the following.
This got rid of bubble and brown hair
I have a 180 g tank so do the math.

Added 60 crabs
Added 50 snails
Added 6 large snails
Added I bottle of pods

Reduced the DT lights to 5 hours a day.

Everything gone in 5 days.

 

[Lowefx]

After reviewing this thread and watching the BRS video about the silicate passing thru the DI, I went and checked mine. It was 90% depleted. So I removed old DI resin and added new. I'm sure this could have played one factor in this game of chess. I'll update in a week or two on the progress.

 

[ZoWhat]

What's missing? Want to grab some acroporas from the same source and do a grow out and coloration challenge? I dose two part

What's missing is the fact that your 2part dosing is making up for thing reg IO is lacking.

Know your history. Regular IO was developed for Fish-Only public aquariums and have never moved off that market.

Read below. THE WORD "CORAL" IS NEVER USED IN GHEIR HISTORYOF THE PRODUCT:
http://www.instantocean.com/science-and-heritage/history-of-innovation.aspx