Which silicate tester?

[peewee5779]

I just bought a red fire sponge and would like to test my silicate level. I mainly see the Sea Chem and Salifert brands on Amazon both with mixed reviews. Anybody have any experience with these or other brands?

 

[Saltyreef]

I just bought a red fire sponge and would like to test my silicate level. I mainly see the Sea Chem and Salifert brands on Amazon both with mixed reviews. Anybody have any experience with these or other brands?

I used spongexcel and couldnt see the color change enough on salifert to make heads from tails.

ICP test your tank water after dosing a regimine you feel is necissary based on the directions on the bottle.

 

[peewee5779]

I used spongexcel and couldnt see the color change enough on salifert to make heads from tails.

ICP test your tank water after dosing a regimine you feel is necissary based on the directions on the bottle.

Good idea. I'm using a drop of sponge Power every day in my 30 gallon tank. I just got Spongexcel 2 days ago and only put 1 drop in on that day....haven't used it since. I was worried about using too much. That's why I wanted to test 1st to get a baseline.

 

[Saltyreef]

Good idea. I'm using a drop of sponge Power every day in my 30 gallon tank. I just got Spongexcel 2 days ago and only put 1 drop in on that day....haven't used it since. I was worried about using too much. That's why I wanted to test 1st to get a baseline.

Yeah, for any low resolution testing needed i always resort to ATI for a real picture.

 

[taricha]

I don't know about seachem. I do know that Salifert has been pretty consistent in not working for people over a few years.
Hanna and Hach make Si test kits that work great in saltwater.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've used and like the Hach kit.

One limitation to the use of ICP is that it doesn't confirm that what one is seeing is actually orthosilicate and not something else, such as colloidal SiO2 or a larger silicate structure that sponges and diatoms may not be able to use.

This describes some forms:

Silicate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

One reason I wonder is that some people get very high Si by ICP, but show no significant diatom growth, while folks adding orthosilicate seem to see it drop fast and detect diatom growth.

 

[Saltyreef]

I've used and like the Hach kit.

One limitation to the use of ICP is that it doesn't confirm that what one is seeing is actually orthosilicate and not something else, such as colloidal SiO2 or a larger silicate structure that sponges and diatoms may not be able to use.

This describes some forms:

Silicate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

One reason I wonder is that some people get very high Si by ICP, but show no significant diatom growth, while folks adding orthosilicate seem to see it drop fast and detect diatom growth.

Very insightful. Thank you Randy!