Hi I'm starting to get diatom algae did a water change yesterday tanks been running about a month cycling is complete I have 2 clowns a feather duster a gsp and some inverts I vaccumed the sand and cleaned the glass yesterday and no algae was on the glass today I come home and the over flow in the back of the tank is covered in diatom (Red Sea Reefer 250 setup) my nitrate is between 5-10ppm so not extremely out of control I feed once a day a quarter cube of mysis shrimp I run 2 radion xr15 pro gen 4 lights at 40% Intensity from 9am to 8pm any advice on how to combat this? I also read about sugar or vodka dosing is this ideal to lower nitrates or just a short term fix? I would likely use sugar because it's cheaper and I can buy more. Thoughts? Comments? Experiences?
Bob Escher
Welcome to Saltwater
Your tank is very very young. Getting the brown diatoms on your sand bed and other places is a part of the process it will go away eventually. Realize that just because your tank may be cycled it isn't mature. Your tank will take about a year to fully mature. You will more than likely get green hair algae, brown hair algae and a host of other things ( NOT SAYING ALL) but it's a part of the process keep ,onitoring it do your water changes keep everything up to snuff and you'll be fine
Bob Escher
Welcome to Saltwater
If your talking about all the brown spot on the sand bed that's part of process, looks good so far
Bob Escher
Welcome to Saltwater
It can be a while. Just keep doing your weekly water changes. Test the water weekly and be careful feeding
It took my tank about three months before the diatoms were gone
BUT EVERY SINGLE TANK IS DIFFERENT so don't worry again inputs a matter of patience
I would suggest when you see your water parameters stay the same and nitrate is near zero for a month then you can add more fishes but not many all at once. Corals SHOULD not be added for a while either but most of us don't listen
Have a great day
It took my tank about three months before the diatoms were gone
BUT EVERY SINGLE TANK IS DIFFERENT so don't worry again inputs a matter of patience
I would suggest when you see your water parameters stay the same and nitrate is near zero for a month then you can add more fishes but not many all at once. Corals SHOULD not be added for a while either but most of us don't listen
Have a great day
wkscott
Well-Known Member
Do you have a sump? Diatoms are fueled by silicates. Do you use RO/DI water or tap water? Tap water can be loaded with silicates. Do you run GFO? While primarily used to reduce phosphates, it will also remove some silicates. After the diatoms leave you most likely will have some green algae and cyanobacteria breakouts. Running GFO now can greatly shorten the duration of these nuisance algae incidents.
Bob Escher
Welcome to Saltwater
The tank is relatively young I do t think he has much in it
To wkscott I do use rodi and yes I have a sump it is a Red Sea Reefer 250 setup I also use filter socks and heard those can hold silicates that feed the diatom I plan to take those out in the future and run just the skimmer (Vertex Omega 130) and live rock in the filter for filtration also what is a GFO? To Bob, I have added 2 engineer gobies and some more snails to help clean up.
Bob Escher
Welcome to Saltwater
No you do not want to remove the filter socks. If you change them regularly ( I do once every three four days ( others will say differently) when I see water hurling near the top of the sock)
A nitrate problem doesn't exist. Even if you change them out once a week they don't have a chance
I would look at some narrsius snails they burrow into the sand
I don't have engineer Goby so I don't know how they do,
I do have a diamond watchmen Goby that sifts sand constantly and moving it around
Remember you only been up for a very short time Patientience
I had one goby die today very upsetting my wife said she seen him ramming into the glass possible this is how he killed himself? The other seems to be doing fine when I left for work this morning they were both alive so he had to have done something they didn't look sick very active and swimming around. Also in my setup do you think 5gallons a week would be enough of a water change or should I up it?
Bob Escher
Welcome to Saltwater
Story to hear that. It going to happen I forgot what size you have but recommended to do at least 20%
I do a little more myself but 20% is fine
No clue way he passed what are your parameters?
Ammonia:
Nitrate:
Nitrite:
Phosphate:
Calcium:
Magnesium:
Alkalinity:
DKH:
And salinity:
I do a little more myself but 20% is fine
No clue way he passed what are your parameters?
Ammonia:
Nitrate:
Nitrite:
Phosphate:
Calcium:
Magnesium:
Alkalinity:
DKH:
And salinity:
Peter Hand
Active Member
Kyle, whenever I have an algae breakout I stop feeding for a few days and it goes away. Not sure if it will help you but I hope it does...
Don't your fish get hungry?
Peter Hand
Active Member
New Life Spectrum Pellets keep my fish fat and healthy. I only had a small algae breakout 1. Now I use a feeding ring so I can feed them as much as I want and don't have to worry about waste that causes algae breakouts
Peter Hand
Active Member
After looking at your tank I think we can all agree it needs time to mature and nothing else.
Never heard of feeding ring. Sounds cool. How does that help get rid of fish poo and extra food.
Oh and diatoms are usually not driven by higher nutrients. They're driven more by elevated levels of silicates common when when using dry rock to start a tank. The outer layers of Rock dissolve as does internal dust and adds it to the aquarium water.
Peter Hand
Active Member
Much less waste, my fish have learned to eat right from the ring . Very little wasted food . Of course there is waste from my fish poop etc but that's why I have proper a clean up crew and macro algae ! My tank is skimmerless btw.
Peter Hand
Active Member
Much less waste, my fish have learned to eat right from the ring . Very little wasted food . Of course there is waste from my fish poop etc but that's why I have proper a clean up crew and macro algae ! My tank is skimmerless btw.
And yes my shrimp also learned that's where to get food lol
To bob, I have a 64 gallon in total 54 display 10gallon sump and 1 gallon ATO, I haven't yet tested for calcium or mag I do have the test sets though. Alk is between 9-9.5 nitrate is below 5ppm Salinity is 1.025 haven't tested nitrite or ammonia because my lfs doesn't sell kits. The owner said if I had high ammonia then there was something seriously wrong but in my case I shouldn't have much or any. To saltyfilmfolks I did start off with dry rock and Tuesday added about 60-70 pounds live rock.
