Clam Health/ Silicate Levels

I read a reef chemistry article and this individual doses silicate for the health of his mollusks. Any comments out there on this? I believe my RODI removes them and I thought silicates were a problem.

Never heard of anyone dosing them. Silicates are naturally found in marine water and are necessary for diatom phytoplankton and certain soft corals and sponges to build structural components. I don't think clams use them directly, but the dosing might help the phytoplankton population which the clam will subsequently feed on.

some say silicates can fuel diatoms. I've also seen other reports that say they don't effect anything. Lots of sands have silicates. I don't think that's what they are feeding the clams

Then there's ciliates which are very common in the food chain for sea creatures. They are more of a nanoplankton. This I can see being fed to a clam as it's a filter feeder.

hmmmmm...this is all very interesting.......

anyone else wanna chime in on this?

Originally Posted by spinycheek

Never heard of anyone dosing them. Silicates are naturally found in marine water and are necessary for diatom phytoplankton and certain soft corals and sponges to build structural components. I don't think clams use them directly, but the dosing might help the phytoplankton population which the clam will subsequently feed on.

What he said

Do you have a link to the article btw?