Silicate remover that won’t drop out PO4

[Dan_P]

What company did that ICP?

How are you purifying top off water?

I wanted to remove silicate from Instant Ocean because diatoms sometimes dominated early stages of my algae cultures, obscuring other micro algae growth. I stirred Instant Ocean with with GFO for 24 hrs. i removed the GFO and dosed nitrate and phosphate. Compared to Instant Ocean with the same amount of dosed nitrate and phosphate, early growth was meager and dominated by diatoms. Later growth continued to be weaker than with Instant Ocean and dominated by diatoms and dinoflagellates.

Thoughts on what was depleted by GFO?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I wanted to remove silicate from Instant Ocean because diatoms sometimes dominated early stages of my algae cultures, obscuring other micro algae growth. I stirred Instant Ocean with with GFO for 24 hrs. i removed the GFO and dosed nitrate and phosphate. Compared to Instant Ocean with the same amount of dosed nitrate and phosphate, early growth was meager and dominated by diatoms. Later growth continued to be weaker than with Instant Ocean and dominated by diatoms and dinoflagellates.

Thoughts on what was depleted by GFO?

I expect that it could have been a lot of different trace elements, maybe even iron. Iron surfaces can be catalytic, speeding the oxidation of materials in the water.

Here's a freshwater paper showing the iron oxide surfaces can accelerate the oxidation and precipitation of manganese onto it:

Manganese (II) oxidation at mineral surfaces: A microscopic and spectroscopic study

The products of the heterogeneous oxidation of Mn(II)aq at hematite, goethite, and albite surfaces were studied, using Scanning Force Microscopy (SFM)…

www.sciencedirect.com

However, independent of the mineral surface used in the experiments, the resulting precipitates consisted of Mn(III) bearing oxyhydroxides, predominately β-MnOOH.

 

[Dan_P]

I expect that it could have been a lot of different trace elements, maybe even iron. Iron surfaces can be catalytic, speeding the oxidation of materials in the water.

Here's a freshwater paper showing the iron oxide surfaces can accelerate the oxidation and precipitation of manganese onto it:

Manganese (II) oxidation at mineral surfaces: A microscopic and spectroscopic study

The products of the heterogeneous oxidation of Mn(II)aq at hematite, goethite, and albite surfaces were studied, using Scanning Force Microscopy (SFM)…

www.sciencedirect.com

However, independent of the mineral surface used in the experiments, the resulting precipitates consisted of Mn(III) bearing oxyhydroxides, predominately β-MnOOH.

Thanks for the reference.

The application of GFO was one of those happy accidents. The reference gives me a focus on the possible mechanism for the observation.

 

[GuppyHJD]

What company did that ICP?

How are you purifying top off water?

ICP test was ATI.
The top off water is RODI and the RODI ICP test only had one value - Zinc 9.91up/l

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've seen a few folks with very high levels of reported silicon. I am not really sure if those values are a test interference of some sort, something other than normal silicate, or are truly levels that high.

Can you describe what is in the tank aside from creatures that might be unusual or manmade materials?. media, sand, rocks, etc.

Can you list the additives you use?