Diatoms in Established tank

[Jamon]

My tank is about 11 months old. I have brown "powder" on my sand, which I take to be diatoms. I do water changes every couple of weeks using Rodi 6 stage filter. Parameters seem good. I turned lights off for a day, which did some good for a bit, but the brown stuff came back quickly. What is causing this stuff and how can I get rid of it?

 

[outhouse]

silicates, are the main cause

 

[charlesk]

I am having the same problem. Yes silicates are known to fuel diatoms, mine started when my RO filter was producing 1 TDS. I siphon my rocks and wash my sand but it returns every day. I guess I just need to continue to do water changes to remove the silicates. I am open to any suggestions.

 

[Arego]

11 months is a decent chunk of time but it isn't 3-5yrs+ and even those tanks at times get dustings that clear themselves up.

Keep on with managing everything you can to put clean water in and export crud out and I bet it resolves itself with a little time.

 

[Lavey29]

At least diatoms won't harm your corals or fish.

 

[Jamon]

I found that my Phosphate levels were 0.33, I heard they're supposed to be 0.03. I bought Seachem Phosphate/silicate remover, dropped them in a separate sock and put that close to my pump yesterday. I'll let you know if this helps.

 

[Jamon]

I am having the same problem. Yes silicates are known to fuel diatoms, mine started when my RO filter was producing 1 TDS. I siphon my rocks and wash my sand but it returns every day. I guess I just need to continue to do water changes to remove the silicates. I am open to any suggestions.

How do you wash your sand? Do you mean vacuum it during water changes or something else? Thank you.