siporax leach silica

dbq5anlxj · Aug 28, 2022

Hello I have about 5L siporax stacked in my sump. I know for sure it leach silica( it's stacked in a cage. I think there is low oxygen area). The question is dose it ever stop leaching that?
I had siporax in two of my tanks icp both show big spike in silica from 200 to 2400. I have diatom grow on my glass every day and some small part of my rock.
What's the best move to lower silica level? I can't use any po4 media my level is already low. Should I remove all the siporax or leave it in let the silica get exhausted if ever?

Thanks

Spare time · Aug 28, 2022

I am not sure if this is possible because it would need to dissolve at a very low pH (@Randy Holmes-Farley is this correct?). I tagged Randy as I am wondering if this is similar to silica based sand.

Anyways, you can use typical phosphate removers (gfo, phosguard, etc.) to remove silica). Silica can also come from rodi water especially if the DI resin is towards the end of its life. Copepods might snack on the diatoms if you wanted to add more.

Reef. · Aug 28, 2022

Have you tested your fresh salt mix?

dbq5anlxj · Aug 28, 2022

Spare time said:
I am not sure if this is possible because it would need to dissolve at a very low pH (@Randy Holmes-Farley is this correct?). I tagged Randy as I am wondering if this is similar to silica based sand.

Anyways, you can use typical phosphate removers (gfo, phosguard, etc.) to remove silica). Silica can also come from rodi water especially if the DI resin is towards the end of its life. Copepods might snack on the diatoms if you wanted to add more.

Thanks for the reply. I'm using ati icp and they do test for rodi water and it's 0 silica. My tank pH is quite high 8.5 with new and calibrated prob.

dbq5anlxj · Aug 28, 2022

Reef. said:
Have you tested your fresh salt mix?

No I have not but icp show my ro water has 0 silica in it

Reef. · Aug 28, 2022

What size tank?

Depends the reason you have the media, if you have rock and sand, the Siporax is probably not needed.

You could remove half, see what that does to your lvls.

I believe something like sera silicate remover would also remove PO4, so probably not an option if your po4 is low already.

I previously used Siporax, removed it and not noticed a difference.

dbq5anlxj · Aug 28, 2022

Reef. said:
What size tank?

Depends the reason you have the media, if you have rock and sand, the Siporax is probably not needed.

You could remove half, see what that does to your lvls.

I believe something like sera silicate remover would also remove PO4, so probably not an option if your po4 is low already.

I previously used Siporax, removed it and not noticed a difference.

180 gallon. I bought some live rock rubble so I though put more media in for the bacteria to colonize haha. I have some seachem matrix down there since the start of this tank and the silica always been around 100-200 range but at that time I think I still has some diatom on my glass but not on the rock work. Yeah, there isn't any particular use for the extra siporax. I guess I'll do what you said remove those because my n and p is already too low I need to dose yo bring it up. Thanks again

taricha · Aug 28, 2022

I do know that it's a repeated observation that siporax etc. blocks can release silica under sump conditions.
I don't know if people observed that the Si release was temporary and wound down over time, most just removed the blocks after they found the Si release.
I wonder if @Lasse kept his long enough to find out.

shakacuz · Aug 28, 2022

@Reefahholic i believe uses siporax in his setup. maybe he can chime in.

Lasse · Aug 28, 2022

I use it in my DSB and we have used it in other anaerobic environment as well. In my experiences - it will not get down with time - mostly the opposite, I had to take away my - see graph below

Sincerely Lasse

Spare time · Aug 28, 2022

You could also add a bunch of sponges. They'd be happy with it

Reefahholic · Aug 29, 2022

shakacuz said:
@Reefahholic i believe uses siporax in his setup. maybe he can chime in.

When you say 200-2,400 I’m assuming you’re talking ug/l.? 100-200 is normal, but 2,400 is getting up there, but IMO still not much to worry about. There’s a lot of guys in the 200-1000 ug/l range without any issues whatsoever.

The truth is that silicates can come in from about everything. The first thing you want to do is to find out if it’s your source water or something else. If not…then you can start a process of elimination with foods, elements, salts, etc. Personally here’s what I would do. NOTHING!

The only issue I’ve ever heard of with high silicates is a diatom bloom. Again, only heard of it. Never had a reefer struggling with it. If you don’t have a bad diatom bloom don’t worry about it too much. There are a lot guys (right now) that are dosing 41% WaterGlass to induce a diatom bloom. Yep, they want silicates at 2-3 ppm. Look at the bright side…you won’t get Dino’s!

Don’t sweat it unless it becomes a problem in the tank. The level of importance is very low. If you want to act here’s a few things you can do.

If it’s the source water get a SpectraPure silicate buster DI Cartridge. If it’s something that you cannot pinpoint, then try Chemipure (PO4 absorber), or partial water change’s to get it down. In my experience it will slowly come down over time especially if the tank is new. It’s commonly elevated in new systems. Watch the subsequent ICP trending and see if it’s trending up or down over the next few months.

Best of luck.