Diatoms: When do they go away?

Breakthecycle2 · May 11, 2015

My tank is around 5 weeks old, give or take a few days. I have recently gotten hit with diatoms. It started out small, now almost everything is getting covered. I know they tend to go away when the silicates are used up, but is there anything I could do to speed it up?

revhtree · May 11, 2015

Never!

Usually for me it's a few weeks after the cycle is complete and IMO it's best to let it run it's course.

Thanks!

SaltAddict89 · May 11, 2015

Doing water changes i heard helps. Correct me if im wrong.

hejjo · May 11, 2015

Mine went away after about 2-3 weeks. Once it started collecting quite a bit I'd blow the rocks and sand with a turkey baster to make it look a lil nicer until they went away. Jus part of starting a new tank.

cloak · May 11, 2015

Like mentioned above, "Silicates." It might be time to replace those filters on that RO/DI unit..

Feature Article: Silica In Reef Aquariums ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

Reefing Madness · May 11, 2015

Once they've eaten all the silicates out of your system they will die off.

maroun.c · May 12, 2015

I'd let it run it's course, Fe weeks is not an issue as you'll have Hair alga and other algae for some more time as well...

Breakthecycle2 · May 12, 2015

cloak said:
Like mentioned above, "Silicates." It might be time to replace those filters on that RO/DI unit..

Feature Article: Silica In Reef Aquariums ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

I just replaced then in November, but never used it again until a few months ago, when I was planning on my new tank. Iv'e probable made 250-300 gallons on the new filters. I am going to replace the whole unit though. Looking for suggestions.

Breakthecycle2 · May 13, 2015

How do I know if they are diatoms or Dinoflagellates?

FL_Reefer · May 13, 2015

Breakthecycle2 said:
How do I know if they are diatoms or Dinoflagellates?

Have any or your snails died?

FL_Reefer · May 13, 2015

Have any pics?

Breakthecycle2 · May 13, 2015

FL_Reefer said:
Have any or your snails died?

No they haven't. I Can try, but its like a golden brown on the sand bed. Its all over the rocks and the walls.

FL_Reefer · May 13, 2015

Sounds to me that it's diatoms that will go away eventually. Good indicated of dinos is snail death, just a fyi lol

Breakthecycle2 · May 13, 2015

I didn't know that. Why does it kill snails?

FL_Reefer · May 13, 2015

They eat it thinking its algae and bam, dead. Not sure why it kills them but I does. I just went through a really bad case of dinos and it sucked but I got rid of them

Mgoc · May 14, 2015

I believe I had dinos but none of my snails died. If it wasn't dinos what could it have been?

FL_Reefer · May 14, 2015

The first pic looks like diatoms and the second looks like cyano bacteria. More flow, less phosphates and your good to go. Sounds way easier than it is, lol

Breakthecycle2 · May 15, 2015

That first picture resembles what I have. I do have a question though, how come these "diatoms" are only in my display tank and not in my sump?

FL_Reefer · May 15, 2015

Is there any light in your sump? They are a type of algae which feed mostly from silica if I remember correctly and from my personal experience they don't show in a cycle until light it added.