Post your DIY additives here!

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not worry about a little silica. It doesn't dissolve super readily, and some dissolved silicate is fine (I dosed it regularly).

 

[Borat]

Dosing some Uranium Phosphide to increase luminescence of tank inhabitants...

Recipe is Kazakh top secret!

 

[Rimsky]

Dosing some Uranium Phosphide to increase luminescence of tank inhabitants...

Recipe is Kazakh top secret!

;Nailbiting

 

[Rimsky]

I would not worry about a little silica. It doesn't dissolve super readily, and some dissolved silicate is fine (I dosed it regularly).

OK. Thanks for the guidance.

I'm currently getting 2,429 μg/l Silicon on my RO water ICP test (ATI). TDS reads 0. And getting 294 ug/l Silicon on my Reef tank. I'm not having a big issue, just brownish algae on my glass every other day. I ordered a Silicon Buster DI Resin from Spectrapure hoping to reduce it. Hope it does not trigger something worse... or Dinos!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK. Thanks for the guidance.

I'm currently getting 2,429 μg/l Silicon on my RO water ICP test (ATI). TDS reads 0. And getting 294 ug/l Silicon on my Reef tank. I'm not having a big issue, just brownish algae on my glass every other day. I ordered a Silicon Buster DI Resin from Spectrapure hoping to reduce it. Hope it does not trigger something worse... or Dinos!

Silica won't trigger dinos, but maybe molybdenum might. lol

 

[Rimsky]

Silica won't trigger dinos, but maybe molybdenum might. lol

My thought is that reducing my Silica significantly could reduce my diatoms but could have the negative side-effect of giving a competitive advantage to dinos.

I have seen cases in which Silica is dosed in order to fight dinos (by promoting diatoms). This is so complex!

 

[Texasnanoreef345]

Why try to match the triton oxidation state? You may not adequately know what exactly is in it, and they may pick it for reasons other than being the most natural form (such as cost).

If I were to make a vanadium (V) solution, I'd probably start with vanadium pentoxide (V2O5 and dissolve it in water).

Vanadium(V) oxide - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thank you for helping me so much I wouldent be able to do it without simple answers to my questions your the best ! We all appreciate what you do for not jus rid but the whole hobby. I was going to buy this sodium orthovanadate but I realize it’s in the 4th oxidation state what could I buy from the drug store or online as vanadium pentoxide ? Thank you again for all your genius knowledge put into this fun chemistry for a reef

 

[TheCoralExchange]

Anyone have a DIY for Cobalt by chance?

I've found this Cobalt Chloride and one place to purchase it here, which appears lab grade. Not sure if any other steps would have to be done with it other than to figure out the weight of cobalt in the chloride?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Anyone have a DIY for Cobalt by chance?

I've found this Cobalt Chloride and one place to purchase it here, which appears lab grade. Not sure if any other steps would have to be done with it other than to figure out the weight of cobalt in the chloride?

Do you have a link to the product?

 

[TheCoralExchange]

Do you have a link to the product?

Sorry thought I linked it. Here is it

Cobalt II Chloride, 15 g

COCL2 (cobalt II chloride) in hexahydrate form is ideal for making invisible ink and conducting other science experiments. For ages 12+. Shop now.

www.homesciencetools.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sorry thought I linked it. Here is it

Cobalt II Chloride, 15 g

COCL2 (cobalt II chloride) in hexahydrate form is ideal for making invisible ink and conducting other science experiments. For ages 12+. Shop now.

www.homesciencetools.com

It is likely fine. You add so little that any impurities will be really low in the tank, and the grade says reagent on the web site, which, if that means ACS reagent grade, is a good grade.

 

[TheCoralExchange]

It is likely fine. You add so little that any impurities will be really low in the tank, and the grade says reagent on the web site, which, if that means ACS reagent grade, is a good grade.

I would have to assume it is acs reagent, all the others i locate are, but they require you to be a lab or school or something, this doesnt.

The only other thing i found with easy access is cobalt sulfate which is here



Would this be ok alternatively?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would have to assume it is acs reagent, all the others i locate are, but they require you to be a lab or school or something, this doesnt.

The only other thing i found with easy access is cobalt sulfate which is here



Would this be ok alternatively?

Might be fine too, but I don't see a reason to prefer it.

 

[M5 Dan]

Does anyone have a Florine recipe ?
Looking to raise by 1.0 mg/l in 1000l aquarium
Using sodium Floride 97%

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Does anyone have a Florine recipe ?
Looking to raise by 1.0 mg/l in 1000l aquarium
Using sodium Floride 97%

Be careful with fluoride. It can be fairly toxic.

NaF is 45% fluoride by weight, so to add 1 mg/L to 100 liters takes

(1 mg/L x 100 L ) / 0.45 = 222 mg, or 0.2 grams.

You can dissolve up to about 30 grams in a litter of RO/DI.

If you dissolve 10 grams in 1 L, then it is 10 mg/mL NaF and it takes 22 mL of that solution to boost 100 L by 1 mg/L F.

 

[Reefology1]

It is likely fine. You add so little that any impurities will be really low in the tank, and the grade says reagent on the web site, which, if that means ACS reagent grade, is a good grade.

anyone have a recipe for this? not sure how much cobalt, as a %, is in this.

BTW @Randy Holmes-Farley, do you think it's necessary to dose cobalt?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

BTW @Randy Holmes-Farley, do you think it's necessary to dose cobalt?

I don't know. I never did, but that doesn't prove anything. I detected none by ICP, but at least at the time, Triton could not detect low enough:

"Cobalt (Co). Cobalt is present in natural seawater at roughly 0.006 µg/L. The Triton LOD = 0.4 µg/L), so having none detected may be fine. We cannot really tell much, unless there is a substantial excess."

My Triton Testing Results: By Randy Holmes-Farley - REEFEDITION

Recently, Triton GmbH in Germany has initiated a method of testing many ions at once for a single price. In the US, that service is coordinated by Unique Corals. For $49 they will send you a couple of tubes to collect a tank water sample, and a prepaid mailer to send the sample back to them...

www.reefedition.com

 

[M5 Dan]

Be careful with fluoride. It can be fairly toxic.

NaF is 45% fluoride by weight, so to add 1 mg/L to 100 liters takes

(1 mg/L x 100 L ) / 0.45 = 222 mg, or 0.2 grams.

You can dissolve up to about 30 grams in a litter of RO/DI.

If you dissolve 10 grams in 1 L, then it is 10 mg/mL NaF and it takes 22 mL of that solution to boost 100 L by 1 mg/L F.

Thanks Randy ,
Just checking that last bit you mentioned is to boost 100l by 1mg not 1000l by 1 ?
it’s something I’m likly to dose over 4 weeks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Randy ,
Just checking that last bit you mentioned is to boost 100l by 1mg not 1000l by 1 ?
it’s something I’m likly to dose over 4 weeks

Yes, the calculation was for 100 L.

 

[Reefology1]

It is likely fine. You add so little that any impurities will be really low in the tank, and the grade says reagent on the web site, which, if that means ACS reagent grade, is a good grade.

Here's a recipe I will use in place of ATI Cobalt.

Cobalt (II) Chloride Hexahydrate CoCl2.6H2O is 24.8% Cobalt by weight

Dissolve 1 gram in 1L of RO/DI. That solution contains 248 mg of cobalt, so the concentration is 248 mg/L or 248ug/mL.

Adding 1 mL to 100 L of tank water will boost aquarium cobalt levels by 2.5 ug/L.

Note: ATI Cobalt (1 ml of the supplement increases the cobalt concentration of 100 litres to 2 µg/l)