Diatoms as a new filtration method??

[Krish]

So who wants to promote diatoms to grow in their tanks to aid in nutrient export rather than using something like chaeto etc? :banplease: :lol:

The idea came from this article Silica Dosing: reef blasphemy or another form of nutrient export? . In a nut shell, the idea is to dose your tank with silica which of course promotes diatoms to grow. Diatoms being a good source of nutrient export will use up the excess nitrates etc in your system and then all left to do afterwards is allow your skimmer to remove the diatoms from your system. In the article it was suggested by an experiment that skimmate, when examined, consisted of silicon which is why they feel the theory should work as "skimming" removes diatoms.

So what are your thoughts on this?? Not sure if this is something I would want to try as the last thing I want is diatoms in my tank , but the theory does make a bit of sense. I guess it goes on the same concept as to why we have refugiums in which we use different "algae's" to aid us in nutrient export. Diatoms being something that will grow on it's own granted all of its needs are present is something that instead of getting upset and wondering when will it go, maybe if possible harvest it and let it work for you.

Just thought I'd toss this out as I found the article interesting and figured it might make for a cool discussion or a good laugh. :rofl:

 

[Krish]

Almost forgot, I basically used the same principle with my 75 gal I had. Cyno started to grow in the tank so instead of getting upset I used the cyno at my advantage! I made the conditions more favorable for the cyno to grow in my sump rather than the tank by using different lighting (basically freshwater planted lights) which had more punch than the tank's lights provided which I ran over the fuge section of my sump for more hours a day than the display had and as a result the cyno grew like crazy in there rather than in the tank. Each week I had to vaccum it out and sure enough by the next week, I had a bunch more to remove. Eventually when the tank balanced out, the cyno stopped growing in the sump so I was able to remove the light and never had an issue afterwards. I think the natural things that grow on it's own (diatoms, hair algae, cyno etc) allow them to work for you rather than hurt your head. When things balance out or it's food source is removed they will dissapear.

Just a thought.

 

[DonW]

I remember when you first came to RF with that diatom infested tank with CC. Back then you wanted them gone. You should have hung onto that one.

But since we are on the subject. Really any pest algae, aptasia or what have you is a nutrient export mechanism. If its alive and thriving your feeding it. So think about when you see the apatasia threads. You dont need nudi's, pep shrimp or any of the other patches. Just stop feeding its just like anything else, no food it dies.

Don

 

[Krish]

I remember when you first came to RF with that diatom infested tank with CC. Back then you wanted them gone. You should have hung onto that one.

But since we are on the subject. Really any pest algae, aptasia or what have you is a nutrient export mechanism. If its alive and thriving your feeding it. So think about when you see the apatasia threads. You dont need nudi's, pep shrimp or any of the other patches. Just stop feeding its just like anything else, no food it dies.

Don

Oh yea...I was algae boy for sure eace:. Going on this article though, I can't see myself trying to promote diatoms by adding silica to the tank. I find it really strange that this was even suggested although I do understand the theory behind why they think it is a good idea. Curious as to what others think of the article though.

 

[07FocusST]

Krish, that is a good point. I have seen people farm Aptasia in their sumps with great water cleaning results. It easier to regulate a small amount of pest in a sump rather than fight them all together. I was debating about trying the aptasia method but your cyno sounds fun too! Keep us informed.

 

[Krish]

Krish, that is a good point. I have seen people farm Aptasia in their sumps with great water cleaning results. It easier to regulate a small amount of pest in a sump rather than fight them all together. I was debating about trying the aptasia method but your cyno sounds fun too! Keep us informed.

Oh that cyno thing was years ago. I did this during my cycle and once things balanced out, even after 2 tank swaps, never had any cyno pop back up nor any other algae issues. Was pretty cool! I keep a pretty clean tank too though. Never heavily stocked nor over fed in any of my tanks. In addition I had bare bottom tanks with tons of flow. Worked well for me.

 

[mojoreef]

I guess the advantage of the diatoms over other form of algae is that they are very easy to remove by aggressive skimming, that kind of seperates diatoms form any other algae form. Basically you dont need to harvest it is done via the skimmer. In saying that I think it would be hard to dial that in, to find the right balance of diatoms in and then back out again with out letting them get a foothold in the display. Interesting stuff, but kind of scaring to, kind of like playing with the devil?

 

[Krish]

I guess the advantage of the diatoms over other form of algae is that they are very easy to remove by aggressive skimming, that kind of seperates diatoms form any other algae form. Basically you dont need to harvest it is done via the skimmer. In saying that I think it would be hard to dial that in, to find the right balance of diatoms in and then back out again with out letting them get a foothold in the display. Interesting stuff, but kind of scaring to, kind of like playing with the devil?

I agree...Kind of found the article wierd as I can't think of one person you can convince to intentionally promote diatoms to grow other than the person who wrote the article LOL! One thing I did get from the article though is instead of complaining when these things do pop up in your tank whether it be diatoms, cyno, hair algae etc, just let it run it's course and do the work for you. Much better option IMO, than using chemicals.

 

[mojoreef]

The "Holy Grail" of keeping any aquarium is always finding that perfect balance, where nutrients are present but are under control, elements are all good and you means by which you add them are all dialed in, fish are happy and not fighting and so on. It is preety much every aquarium keeper looks for no matter what system they try to run.
Nature is no different, its just much better at it then us. It has millions of creatures, plants and so on to step into whatever nitch become available. In our home reefs its always a case of one of the many waiting for the oppertunity to become dominate and make the reef their world.
Bacteria is the dominate force in our reefs (as it is in our world) but when nutrients become over abundant...well Algae is always "Johnny on the Spot":spy: But as with everything it is limited by its food source and or the preditors that prey on it. When we get an algae bloom it is just the tanks way of telling you got have to many nutrients. In most cases allowing them to bind up the nutrients and then harvest them out is a great way of removing the nutrients, BUT algae (like most things) does not want to disappear quitely in to the sunset. They are also highly developed and will do everything they can too remain dominate.
A case in point is cyanobacter, it is a creature/plant that is from by two things, bacteria and algae working together to create and enviroment they can survive in. So it is capable of creating its own world. but thats a topic for another time.


Mojo