Diatoms, New tank norm or do I fight them.

[TWYOUNG]

I've been struggling with diatoms in my 4mo. tank. Fortunately I have no corals as yet or they would have been smothered. Do I just let them run their course or should I fight them and how? I have established a good pod population and have snails which don't seem very effective. Manual removal? Can I starve them with light reduction? Despite heavy feeding I have 0.0 measurable nutrients, ( do diatoms consume them)?

 

[TWYOUNG]

This was the bottom of that same rock!

 

[KrisReef]

Typical new tank challenge. I recently flooded a funky (new) tank with pods and algae and they grew quickly so that the water is now green but the ugliest pests are in remission. I expect that they will eventually be out competed if not nonexistent? I do have elevated phosphate but very low nitrates even though I feed the fishes every day like Thanksgiving meals x3’s.
I clean the glass and change water now but hope to relax water changes once the tank matures and is nutrient stable. The latter state may take a year or two to achieve but I am in no rush to

 

[Kirmit]

I was to impatient to let it run the course. Do they go away or get less at night? If they do I had been fighting it for a few weeks in my newly cycled bio cube 16 (20% water changes weekly, vacuuming sand, feeding more) adding a cheap drop in 13 watt uv into the rear chamber from Amazon, a mini oxydator, and changing the tiny filter pad daily cleared it up in a couple days. Trying a different solution in my current cycling 32 bio cube I added a 10 astrea and 5 certh snails. The astrea did a crazy amount of cleaning on the Marco rock making it all white again.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Typical new tank challenge. I recently flooded a funky (new) tank with pods and algae and they grew quickly so that the water is now green but the ugliest pests are in remission. I expect that they will eventually be out competed if not nonexistent? I do have elevated phosphate but very low nitrates even though I feed the fishes every day like Thanksgiving meals x3’s.
I clean the glass and change water now but hope to relax water changes once the tank matures and is nutrient stable. The latter state may take a year or two to achieve but I am in no rush to

I'm somewhat confused about my nutrients being stuck on zero. I feel I'd have a better idea of my problem, and potential solutions if I had a nutrient issue. I was driven out of reefing 25 years ago by persistent issues with algae choking out my corals. My tests were always negative for nitrates & phosphates so I'd buy better test kits trying to find them. Even then I suspected they were being consumed immediately upon entering the system but that wasn't really the thinking at the time. This time I'm starting out with some of the best test kits,(Hanna), and I'm encountering similar issues. Is it likely diatoms are consuming my nutrients? I seeded my fuge with Chaeto a few days ago hoping to give the display tank some competition for any available nutrients, but I fear my Chaeto will starve as I've been told I need measurable nitrates and at least 0.03 phosphates in order to maintain macro algae growth.

 

[Kirmit]

I totally get it. I left the hobby for similar reasons 17 years ago. If the algae is growing something is feeding it. You may be correct it’s 0 due to the algae using it. I would really recommend increasing the clean up crew to rid the visibility and control of it, and give the cheato a chance. Your tank is still very young and working to find that right equilibrium. Patience will win the day.

 

[TWYOUNG]

I totally get it. I left the hobby for similar reasons 17 years ago. If the algae is growing something is feeding it. You may be correct it’s 0 due to the algae using it. I would really recommend increasing the clean up crew to rid the visibility and control of it, and give the cheato a chance. Your tank is still very young and working to find that right equilibrium. Patience will win the day.

Yeah! I've been struggling with cuc as well. All the snails I find are so small they don't seem to accomplish much. I've been led to believe Trochus snails are the best but availability seems limited to quite small ones. I may get some big Turbo snails but they can be disruptive and foul the water when they die unnoticed. Are diatoms,(because that's what I believe I'm dealing with), photosynthetic? Do they just feed on silicates or also nitrates and phosphates? Thanks in advance!

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Dry rock starts seem to take longer than ocean live rock to stabilize. Not sure if that is an issue here.

 

[Kirmit]

Yeah! I've been struggling with cuc as well. All the snails I find are so small they don't seem to accomplish much. I've been led to believe Trochus snails are the best but availability seems limited to quite small ones. I may get some big Turbo snails but they can be disruptive and foul the water when they die unnoticed. Are diatoms,(because that's what I believe I'm dealing with), photosynthetic? Do they just feed on silicates or also nitrates and phosphates? Thanks in advance!

I have heard Trochus are good, my local store only had astrea. I got 10 of them and they have cleaned about 30 lbs of Marco rock in about 2 weeks. My rocks where like a Dijon mustard with a slight green hue. I still need to figure out the sand bed. I like the certh snails but local store hasn’t gotten any recently. I have a oxidator d size showing up today. I’m going to get it in this week. Mine definitely moved into the water column at night and grew during the light cycle.
Here is a side view Before and after.

 

[Uncle99]

Zeros in nutrients slows beneficial populations of algae and bacterium and speeds the pest stuff like diatoms, Dino’s and cyanos.
Get your nutrients in the bands and ensure their stability, then with a little help from a toothbrush and time, it WILL, just go away.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Zeros in nutrients slows beneficial populations of algae and bacterium and speeds the pest stuff like diatoms, Dino’s and cyanos.
Get your nutrients in the bands and ensure their stability, then with a little help from a toothbrush and time, it WILL, just go away.

My big issue there is how do I add nutrients without feeding nuisance algae? I used an entire bottle of TM PLUS-NP with no results.

 

[TWYOUNG]

I have heard Trochus are good, my local store only had astrea. I got 10 of them and they have cleaned about 30 lbs of Marco rock in about 2 weeks. My rocks where like a Dijon mustard with a slight green hue. I still need to figure out the sand bed. I like the certh snails but local store hasn’t gotten any recently. I have a oxidator d size showing up today. I’m going to get it in this week. Mine definitely moved into the water column at night and grew during the light cycle.
Here is a side view Before and after.

How big are your Trochus? I have 100 lbs of rock!

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Flip the rocks. Blow them off with a turkey baster or long turkey baster. They make a bigger one.
Top crown snails over turbos.
Hths you
D

 

[kateJD]

Yeah! I've been struggling with cuc as well. All the snails I find are so small they don't seem to accomplish much. I've been led to believe Trochus snails are the best but availability seems limited to quite small ones. I may get some big Turbo snails but they can be disruptive and foul the water when they die unnoticed. Are diatoms,(because that's what I believe I'm dealing with), photosynthetic? Do they just feed on silicates or also nitrates and phosphates? Thanks in advance!

I was frustrated with this and I got a couple of hermit crabs and they seem to take care of dead snails for me ok.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Flip the rocks. Blow them off with a turkey baster or long turkey baster. They make a bigger one.
Top crown snails over turbos.
Hths you
D

Sorry, what's Hths stand for? A little quick research says Top crown snails can't turn themselves over and are from cooler waters than most tropicals. I'm assuming your experience is different?

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Hope that helps
Top crown snails are great hair algae eaters.
They always do great for me. My tanks i try to keep 76-78°F
D

 

[TWYOUNG]

I was frustrated with this and I got a couple of hermit crabs and they seem to take care of dead snails for me ok.

Do they also "take care of" your snails BEFORE they're dead? That has been my concern with adding crabs.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Usually they just want the shell for a home.
D

 

[vetteguy53081]

I've been struggling with diatoms in my 4mo. tank. Fortunately I have no corals as yet or they would have been smothered. Do I just let them run their course or should I fight them and how? I have established a good pod population and have snails which don't seem very effective. Manual removal? Can I starve them with light reduction? Despite heavy feeding I have 0.0 measurable nutrients, ( do diatoms consume them)?

Im seeing what looks more like early stage dino and would be supported by the low/no nutrient readings.
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

 

[TWYOUNG]

Im seeing what looks more like early stage dino and would be supported by the low/no nutrient readings.
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

I'm really confused about the zero nutrients everyone scares me about. How am I supposed to raise them without encouraging nuisance algae? I went through a bottle of TM Plus-NP and nutrients never budged? Some have cautioned against dosing such a young tank when I really don't know whether I'm feeding the "good guys" or the bad ones.