[koolman91]

I bought a seachem silicate and phosphate for my 30 gallon planted tank. the parameters in my tank are 2.5mg/l for phosphates and 20mg/l for silicates. I tested my tap water, about 1.0mg/l for phosphates and 10mg/l for silicates. I think my silcates are too high in tap water. my tank is about 3 weeks still cycling so there is going to high silicate content from substrate/rocks etc, but 10mg/l in tap water I believe is too high causing a diatom problem. I doest not matter how much I change the water it wont get rid of silcates. How do I get rid of silicates with out r/o from tap water any help please?

sorry i ment seachem phosphate and sillica test kits

Bump: sorry i ment seachem phosphate and sillica test kits

 

[en7jos]

I'm both intrigued and confused! I have never heard of silicate testing being a thing in freshwater aquariums (I'm assuming your tank is freshwater, right?, as you mentioned it being a planted tank).

What was it that prompted you to test your water for silicate and what problem do you believe your current levels are causing?

Out of interest, I just looked up the Seachem test kit here and I see that it says:

"Natural sea water contains about 10 mg/L as silicate. In reef or other marine aquaria, silicate should be 1 mg/L or less. Silicate is non-toxic to fish and invertebrates, but is ideally kept below 1 mg/L to minimize diatomaceous algae. In freshwater, silicate is not critical. Usually, freshwater silicate concentrations will range in the area of 4–20 mg/L."

So, according to that, silicate levels don't matter in freshwater tanks and your current ranges are within the normal range anyway!

If you need to remove it, then how about Seachem PhosGuard?

"PhosGuard™ rapidly removes phosphate and silicate from marine and freshwater aquaria. Although PhosGuard™ is effective in both fresh and marine water, it will operate better in sea water and the need for it is better defined in sea water. It is not recommended for phosphate buffered freshwater (PhosGuard™ would remove the buffer until saturated). PhosGuard™ is highly porous and bead-shaped to promote easy water flow through and around it, thereby increasing both its efficiency and capacity."

Or maybe not...

 

[koolman91]

its not critical in the freshwater aquarium but in a planted aquarium its everything. I have a hudge diatom alge bloom beacuse there is too many silicates. I did a 50% water chage and it got worse thats why I tested my water. I have found that its high and now the diatom population doubled in my tank. so can I just put this stuff in my water change bucket over night to remove silicates. I can not put it in my filter because my tank needs phosphates for the plants.

 

[ahem]

its not critical in the freshwater aquarium but in a planted aquarium its everything. I have a hudge diatom alge bloom beacuse there is too many silicates. I did a 50% water chage and it got worse thats why I tested my water. I have found that its high and now the diatom population doubled in my tank. so can I just put this stuff in my water change bucket over night to remove silicates. I can not put it in my filter because my tank needs phosphates for the plants.

I live in MoCo Md where the water company puts phosphates in the water and we also have had silicates. I had a bad diatom outbreak. I ended up just keeping it super clean and using Seachem Phosguard (put in a mesh bag into your filter). It removes both phosphates and silicates. You'll then need to replace the phosphates if your plants need them, not sure how that works, the tank I was working with at the time did not have real plants.

 

[koolman91]

ok ill see first im going to try to put a bag of it in the buckets after a water change and then if that does not work ill put it in my filter. thanks