kingjames Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 ok so the last few months i have been getting in to sps and have added some easier one to keep and are growing just fine and fast, all my parameters have been stable for three years now except phosphates which havnt been a prob till now, so i put some gfo in a mesh bag, as directions stated, about two weeks ago, phosphates have gone down noticably but diatoms (which is really the only prob alge i have except for a 2in x 2in spot of cyano) does not seem to be fading, and using ro/di water too. My question is will the diatoms eventually fade with time or should i be switching new gfo out since my water is prob filled with phospate and silicates, im using the fluval lab series gfo, until i can participate in the next gfo group buy, and i only feed once a day with new spectrum pellets. really im just wanting to bring out brighter colors in my sps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 how often do you stir your sand bed? What are your other levels at (temp, ph, etc..)? Do you have any kind of sand sifting invertebrates currently? I've siphoned the diatoms out, but nassarius snails (sp?) are good for diatoms. Keep in mind that diatoms are not algae at all. What about your light cycle? How long are you running lights? Are you doing any dosing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 also, there is a member in the for sale forum selling his stock of GFO, a few pounds if I recall. Are you not performing regular water changes to dilute the phosphates? What kind of rock are you using? BRS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Diatoms feed largely on silicates. GFO will not address silicates. Ive also found that the effectiveness of GFO is greatly amplified if you pass water through it (i.e., BRS reactor) as opposed to having it sit passively in a bag. What are your PO4 levels at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 What's your NO3 at also? I've seen NO3, PO4, ratio problems that seem to cause both cyano and dyno's issues. I would also back down on the feedings unless you have fish that require frequent meals like anthias. Most fish are fine every other day or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjames Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 temp stays at about 78, ph-8.2, alk-9, phosphate at .25 calcium 490( i know a little high, getting them down) everything else 0, only sand sifter i have is a yellow watchman goby and he is defantly not aggresive at it, running 300watts halides for 9 hours, tried bumping it down to 7 and had no noticable diffrence, stir my sand bed once a month some times a little longer, i do not know what type of rock, bought it dried out from a guy who broke down one of his tanks about 3 1/2 years ago, do a five gallon wc once every two weeks since all of my params are stable except phospate. i realize that diatoms are not a alge and from my understanding they thrive off of silicates and light, but i thought gfo was supposed to at least filter out most silicates, at least enough to make a noticable diffrence, CUC consists of a huge brittle star, two huge turbos, a few cerith snails, and lots of astrina stars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjames Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 and only dose alk, mag, and calcium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjames Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 i have been saving for a reactor and will have one in about a week, but i thought the mesh bag would be a good start and have heard of others controlling phosphate with this method even though it is not 100% efective like a reactor. Ok so how do i get rid of silicate, if i am using ro/di and feed sparingly, where would the silicates be coming from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 0.25 for phosphates is pretty high. Continue with the GFO in a bag until you can get a reactor, reduce feedings, water changes, skimmer if you've got it. The diatoms generally outpace what would be coming in through RODI water and will starve themselves out. Just give them time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjames Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 thanks guys for all the feed back, will keep wacking away at this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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