Diatom blooms

bombero11 · May 13, 2018

I see a lot of info on how to fix them but not much on how to prevent it.

I have a Red Sea reefer 350 and currently curing 80lbs of bleached pukani/Fiji dry rock in a tote with some Gfo running in there bc of the rock known to leach phosphate and I’m sure it won’t hurt using it
I will be using aragonite special grade dry sand as well
Rodi water only

Using Dr Tim’s one and only and ammonia to cycle the tank

Any tips on how to prevent algae blooms
Thankyou

nautical_nathaniel · May 14, 2018

How old is your tank? Diatom blooms are apart of the maturing process of most tanks, they tend to go away on their own as the tank matures. That being said, I still get them occasionally with my two year old tank, but only when I get a significant influx of nitrate and phosphate from something like accidentally feeding too much or the death of a critter.

Mr. Limpid · May 14, 2018

What nautical said about new tanks. If after your tank matures to control nitrites there a lot ways to do that. Don't let uneaten lay around, siphon up debris, rinse frozen food before feeding, add micro algae, protein skimmer, nitrite filter or reactor, probably a few more I missed.

Deepsixx · May 14, 2018

I have a good skimmer, phosban reactor, carbon reactor, fuse with Cheato, and a biopellet reactor (hope to take the phosban reactor offline eventually when this gets going) and I am fighting diatoms as we speak (new tank). Like Nautical Nathaniel said, its part of the maturation process. My 4th tank and my 4th diatom bloom.

Diznaster · May 14, 2018

Hope I'm not hijacking you might have the same questions. I'm in about the same place and wondering when the diatoms will end! Or at least slow down. Reef Saver dry rock 70lbs, Fiji Pink sand 70lbs. I did a cycle with Red Sea reef mature. Once the cycle was mostly complete I got a massive diatom bloom, sand, rock, everywhere.... On day 32 I had a massive explosion of copepods and the rock was clean as new (I added pods a couple weeks before). Sand has never stopped having brown spots. Now at day 45 the rock it turning brown again. I think it is just taking time to get all the silicates out of the sand and rock, the Diamond Goby kicking up dust storms is probably accelerating the process. Water parameters have been great for weeks, but haven't tested silicates (will be soon). No other algae besides coralline spots from adding Purple Helix.