Diatoms cleared up but returned few weeks later

[Kial]

My tank is around 2-3 months old now and been through the initial cycle and diatom bloom. Was happy how easy it cleared up at first! But they are back!!
My rocks have started to go brown and green in spots, diatoms seem to cover a lot of the sand.
Tank is stocked with a few snails, 2 clowns, fire tail goby, coral banded shrimp and a royal dotty back (which I've not seen for few days) few zoas and a hammer.
I do weekly water changes of 10% and clean out filter sock.

I originally filled the tank with tap water but use rodi ever since initial filling. Could this be the reason for the return of diatoms?

 

[Katrina71]

Can you post some tank pics?

 

[Kial]

I've just done a water change and vacuumed the very surface of the sand so it's not as bad right now, Not sure if I should of vacuumed or not as I've read people saying it's fine to do and then others saying don't. As you can see I have a shallow sand bed. It's usually darker patches than what the photo shows.

 

[Katrina71]

Looks like new tank stuff to me, but please wait for more experienced reefers to chime in.

 

[Jason mack]

I originally filled the tank with tap water but use rodi ever since initial filling. Could this be the reason for the return ofdiatoms?

This is definitely gonna have an effect on your tank ..

 

[Jason mack]

But I’d say it’s just new tank syndrome .. you’ve been increasing your bioload by adding live stock and this is probably your tank adjusting too that ..

 

[Kial]

yeah I knew the tap water was not the best decision but was the easiest option for me at the time.
Is there anything I can do to speed the process up to get rid of them, or simply just wait it out

 

[Jason mack]

yeah I knew the tap water was not the best decision but was the easiest option for me at the time.
Is there anything I can do to speed the process up to get rid of them, or simply just wait it out

You could increase your clean up crew maybe get a few more snails and krabs ,but it will pass ..have you had any hair algae normally that follows diatoms in a new tank ... patience is everything .. nothing good happens fast in a reef aquarium .. 2-3 month old tank still needs to stabilize ..

 

[Kial]

Still yet to get the hair Algea, I thought it was starting to grow but was only the rocks maturing.
I may try get some hermits, to be fair I think my cuc is rather small at the moment for the size of my tank. 400l aquareef

 

[Jason mack]

Here’s my 350l mixed reef it’s almost one year old .. a lot of the corals and rock came from my old tank

 

[Kial]

Looks awesome. Is that a butterfly fish? I've wanted one of those but my lfs told me they would eat my coral. What's your experience with one?

 

[Jason mack]

Yes it’s a copperband , they can be a very finicky fish , difficult too get them eating frozen food .. their survival rate in captivity is probably 50/50 .. I’d advise not getting from a lFS , but rather one from a private owner .. one that has been through qt and is already used too frozen foods .. also it’s a good idea too have a good copepod population already in your tank .. mines never picked on my coral .. got more chance of that from the flame angle I’ve got .. but again mine hasn’t yet ..

 

[Kial]

Ah OK thanks for the advice. I'l definitely hold off on trying one of those for now and stick to the easier fish