Reef Discussion

Susan Bates

Member
Jan 18, 2015
880
117
Brown Powder
I think this has been asked before but i can not find the thread, I have brown powder like over walls and sand and some of my corals are looking brown, what can i do please, nit 10 ,phos 0.03,
 

gtrxu1

Member
Jun 25, 2012
363
196
Usually on newer tanks you can let it run its course, just syphon up what you can when you do water changes.
Stromb snails and cucumbers are good for cleaning it. Could also mean your RO Filters may need a change.
 

Susan Bates

Member
Jan 18, 2015
880
117
Usually on newer tanks you can let it run its course, just syphon up what you can when you do water changes.
Stromb snails and cucumbers are good for cleaning it. Could also mean your RO Filters may need a change.
thanks TDS is reading 0.00
 

Ben Daley

/dev/null
Dec 23, 2016
162
101
Melbourne
I was under the impression silicates will not show up on a TDS meter.
I've heard conflicting info on this. I suspect it to be true...
IME, my first tank had an ongoing diatom problem. I would do WC and vacuum them out but they would be back in full strength the next day.
Once I moved the corals over to my new tank and started to neglect WC on the old tank, the diatoms begun to die back (and the new tank had a massive bloom). After this I started to consider the source water and added an extra cartridge with GFO as the last stage on the RODI unit; and after a couple of weeks the diatoms disappeared.
While I never tested for silicates, I received a triton test this week that says I have far too many of them. There is also a small patch of diatoms growing on the sand so I'd say the GFO needs to be replaced.

If your source water does contain silicates, the tank will get a steady supply from evaporation top off and water changes. If they don't pass on in a couple of weeks, take note of their growth (eg. do they come back strong after a WC?) and perhaps skip a WC to observe if there is any change.

Exactly, I run a silica buster cartridge as the last filtre before it hits the tote.
This sounds much better - anyone know where to get one in AU?
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
This sounds much better - anyone know where to get one in AU?
If you can't find one going through aquarium suppliers, try someone that specializes in home water treatment. You might find that they're quite a bit cheaper too. I'd imagine with the amount of sand you have in Australia that your water has a good bit of silicates in it. Where I live in the US, we have gobs of silicates in our water which is why I run the extra filtration on my water. I can tell when it needs to be changed as my Abalones spawn because of the extra food and I get the "rust dust" on my egg crate.