Diatom Small outbreak NEED HELP!!

[Tyler Roth]

I have a tank that has been running for about two weeks now. Baught this tank from a guy and it was up and running good within 35 or so hours it was running exactly like he had it with his same rock that was still wet and the sand bed that was never messed with with 1 inch of water that kept the sand from becoming dry that water was the same water he had in his tank. Plus i took 40 gallon in a trash that as also his water and moved it along with the tank. Then went to the LFS and baught the rest of the premaide salt water to fill up the tank and get it running.. 2 weeks later i have a Diatom algae out break that just started and its starting to cover my rocks and my sand bed all my levels are good wondering what i need to do to fix this???????

 

[Daytonareefing]

My first thought is the RO used to make the saltwater you bought was high in iron which is common if you don't use a DI filter on your RO system which will cause your problem so you need to get some seachem Phosguard to soak up the phosphates in the water.

 

[Virtualbasil]

I had diatoms but they went away after a couple weeks I didn't do anything other than water change outs. But I did have phosguard, bag of carbon, bio balls and bag of GFO in my media basket.

 

[Harold Green]

Tyler there could be lots of causes. My guess is with no water flow during the time between tear down and set up much of the bacteria in the sand and live rock has died. The brown diatoms are normally a sign that a new tank is beginning to cycle. Have you tested the water for ammonia or nitrates? I'd let the tank run for several weeks adding an ammonia source every day or so and see if the diatoms disappear by then. I hate to suggest it but sometimes it's better to rinse old gravel thoroughly and start the tank as a new one if the gravel has a lot of detritus in it.

 

[The-Russ]

Diatom is normal. If you move a tank you WILL get a mini cycle. Just chill, it will work its self out.

You need to test the water for ammonia & Nitrates. Do you have livestock? If so, get some dr tins if the levels are high.

The best thing for a reed tank is time. Go slow and let the tank work outs its issues.