Diatoms? And removal?

[SamuelW]

Hi, I'm Sam. New to R2R and reef keeping. I have a 20 gal tank with hang on back filter. Tank has cycled, and been going through the ugly stage. I had a diatom outbreak in the tank, and I believe it is the diatoms that have made my water dirty. Do I do water changes to remove it? Or should I just let nature do its thing? I dont think my filter is picking up the fine particles. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[James M]

Welcome to reef2reef !!!!
Looks like your glass is dirty and I would just let the tank do it’s thing

 

[SamuelW]

Welcome to reef2reef !!!!
Looks like your glass is dirty and I would just let the tank do it’s thing

Oh its not the glass that's for sure. Still think I should just leave it?

 

[oceaninabox12345]

Send the top down pic. #Reefsquad

 

[SamuelW]

Top down

 

[saltyhog]

I don't think that's diatoms. They don't make the water cloudy IME. What are your water parameters? Could be a bacterial bloom? #reefsquad

 

[SamuelW]

I don't think that's diatoms. They don't make the water cloudy IME. What are your water parameters? Could be a bacterial bloom? #reefsquad

Havent checked in a little while. But I've been reading zeros for NH3, NO2, NO3. Should I check PH?

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Hey there @SamuelW! I agree that water looks very murky, I haven’t seen even the worst diatoms make water that brown. Have you done any water changes at all since cycling your tank? As mentioned, I think the first step here is to run a test of all parameters to get a baseline. I also think regardless, now is a good time for a water change and by the looks of things and with how small the tank is, I’d suggest a 50% change, but test BEFORE doing the water change, then test again 48 hours later to see how the tank’s responded. Did you use old dry rock in your tank? I’ve seen water look like that when dry rock hasn’t been rinsed before use and the dead organics clouded the water. Last bit of advice, I would suggest testing your parameters frequently (minimum once per week) until your tank is well established. It’s a lot easier and more likely you’ll be successful if you can catch things and address them early on rather than wait to test once things are going south.

 

[SamuelW]

Hey there @SamuelW! I agree that water looks very murky, I haven’t seen even the worst diatoms make water that brown. Have you done any water changes at all since cycling your tank? As mentioned, I think the first step here is to run a test of all parameters to get a baseline. I also think regardless, now is a good time for a water change and by the looks of things and with how small the tank is, I’d suggest a 50% change, but test BEFORE doing the water change, then test again 48 hours later to see how the tank’s responded. Did you use old dry rock in your tank? I’ve seen water look like that when dry rock hasn’t been rinsed before use and the dead organics clouded the water. Last bit of advice, I would suggest testing your parameters frequently (minimum once per week) until your tank is well established. It’s a lot easier and more likely you’ll be successful if you can catch things and address them early on rather than wait to test once things are going south.

Thanks for the advice, I do typically test my water once a week. I did use old rock from a friend. I'll do another water change here soon.

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Thanks for the advice, I do typically test my water once a week. I did use old rock from a friend. I'll do another water change here soon.

If the rock came out of storage or a tank where detritus hadn’t been blasted off the rock in a long while, I suspect that (and maybe in some small part your diatoms) are what clouded up the water. That’s good that you’re testing weekly. I found that keeping a spreadsheet on an app on my phone (so it’s one simple click away — no excuses for me to make lol) really helped hold me accountable to continue testing and then you have the benefit of seeing trends over time. Just a tip!

 

[SamuelW]

If the rock came out of storage or a tank where detritus hadn’t been blasted off the rock in a long while, I suspect that (and maybe in some small part your diatoms) are what clouded up the water. That’s good that you’re testing weekly. I found that keeping a spreadsheet on an app on my phone (so it’s one simple click away — no excuses for me to make lol) really helped hold me accountable to continue testing and then you have the benefit of seeing trends over time. Just a tip!

Thanks! I'll try and do a water change, and test parameters tonight.

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Thanks! I'll try and do a water change, and test parameters tonight.

Sounds good! Test before the water change though just so the wc doesn’t mask any of the potential issues.

 

[SamuelW]

Sounds good! Test before the water change though just so the wc doesn’t mask any of the potential issues.

Sounds good

 

[SamuelW]

Sounds good! Test before the water change though just so the wc doesn’t mask any of the potential issues.

Here ya go. It's hard to tell in the picture but I think my pH is around 8.2 or so

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Here ya go. It's hard to tell in the picture but I think my pH is around 8.2 or so

Those look good. Try to get your hands on a phosphate test kit when you can. Would be good for you to know your phosphate readings in general but especially with a newly established tank. Might give us a better idea of whether the rock is “leaching phosphate” or in other words, whether old stuff that had previously populated the rock is decaying causing a spike.

I recall seeing another thread of yours but remind me how long the tank has been up please?

 

[SamuelW]

Those look good. Try to get your hands on a phosphate test kit when you can. Would be good for you to know your phosphate readings in general but especially with a newly established tank. Might give us a better idea of whether the rock is “leaching phosphate” or in other words, whether old stuff that had previously populated the rock is decaying causing a spike.

I recall seeing another thread of yours but remind me how long the tank has been up please?

I tested for phosphate a while ago. Not recently. I'll see what that's reading...

 

[SamuelW]

Those look good. Try to get your hands on a phosphate test kit when you can. Would be good for you to know your phosphate readings in general but especially with a newly established tank. Might give us a better idea of whether the rock is “leaching phosphate” or in other words, whether old stuff that had previously populated the rock is decaying causing a spike.

I recall seeing another thread of yours but remind me how long the tank has been up please?

Phosphate is reading zero. My tank has been up since February 23. I've kept a notebook with my parameters and observations over this whole time if you need specific details.

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Phosphate is reading zero. My tank has been up since February 23. I've kept a notebook with my parameters and observations over this whole time if you need specific details.

No, just wondering. Was the rock dry or did it come right out of an established tank and into yours? If it wasn’t kept wet during transport you may have had some small die off but with your phosphates at zero I wouldn’t be concerned with any die off. I’m guessing it was detritus and/or other matter that was trapped in the rock you got that clouded up your water but it is looking more murky than in your original diatoms post (I just went back and looked). I would do that 50% water change now and see how things look. Keep an eye on the tank and test again in 48 hours. Then plan to do another water change of 25% this weekend if the water’s still murky. I wouldn’t get into carbon or anything like that just yet.

 

[SamuelW]

No, just wondering. Was the rock dry or did it come right out of an established tank and into yours? If it wasn’t kept wet during transport you may have had some small die off but with your phosphates at zero I wouldn’t be concerned with any die off. I’m guessing it was detritus and/or other matter that was trapped in the rock you got that clouded up your water but it is looking more murky than in your original diatoms post (I just went back and looked). I would do that 50% water change now and see how things look. Keep an eye on the tank and test again in 48 hours. Then plan to do another water change of 25% this weekend if the water’s still murky. I wouldn’t get into carbon or anything like that just yet.

Well I just did a 5 gallon water change. I'll mix up more salt soon. It does look better but I guess we will see if it progresses or regresses. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[SamuelW]

Well I just did a 5 gallon water change. I'll mix up more salt soon. It does look better but I guess we will see if it progresses or regresses. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

The rock was used, and put into storage for a while before I used it. I tried to clean it all as best as I could with a clean wire brush before I put it all in.