Diatoms on sand

[luis]

hi my problem is diatoms on sand I try everything from water changes ,phosguard ,chemi clean to 3 days no light and still no results my Red Sea test kit shows 0.2 ppm on phosphates and 4.0 nitrate the tank is being running for 6 months its a 180 gallon sps dominated any suggestions please

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Can we see some pictures? 6 months depending on how much rock may not be unusual for diatoms. are you running gfo in a reactor?

 

[GoVols]

Can we see some pictures?

tagging.

 

[luis]

 

[luis]

It's kind of hard to see in this pictures if I vacuum my sand today tomorrow is all over again I don't run gfo I have chato ,phosban ,chemi pure elite a have a big skimmer reef octopus 3000 sss also a 36 watts uv light I don't know what else to try

 

[luis]

It's like a brown dust all over the sand

 

[GoVols]

Awesome Reef!!!

Dose it fade back during lights out a comes back as the daylight hours are on?

 

[luis]

It does fade after white lights are off

 

[GoVols]

It does fade after white lights are off

To me it is diatoms and I've always let them burn out over time.

Your have a beautiful reef!

Tagging with you for Salty's input.

 

[luis]

Thank you

 

[GoVols]

Thank you

Your Welcome!!!!!

I'm assuming your using RO/DI water too.

I don't know if Salty has a fast and safe way to get rid of them.

 

[luis]

Yes I use rodi water.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

One thing Ive seen done successfully is putting the gfo over the return pump. I believe both of your chemical medias contain either gfo or another type of binder(aluminum based?)
you do need to take car to not strip the PO4 too fast of course.

 

[luis]

Can I load a video here ?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Can I load a video here ?

yea, Use youtube and embed the link here.

 

[luis]

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[GoVols]

Let me know what you guys think.

I think it looks great.

Things have sure changed for the better since we used to scape by with piling all the rock work up the back wall and sloped it down to the front glass and it gives the fish a lot more open space to weave in and out in open water.

If you mind...
What lights are you running over your 180?

 

[luis]

2 250 metal halides 3 150 we kessil and 4 80 watts ati bulbs

 

[slim_santa_chris]

hi my problem is diatoms on sand I try everything from water changes ,phosguard ,chemi clean to 3 days no light and still no results my Red Sea test kit shows 0.2 ppm on phosphates and 4.0 nitrate the tank is being running for 6 months its a 180 gallon sps dominated any suggestions please

try mixing the sand daily for a week. is it newly cycled or a newer tank? how's the nitrates?

 

[luis]

Yes is 6 months old nitrates are 4.0