HELP!! Diatom issues

[Brian Goldstein]

Hey Reefers-

My RedSea Reefer 250 hit the 3 month mark today.

-All of my corals look healthy and are growing
-My water parameters are on point
-Using RODI water
-Phosphates almost inexistant

However, I cannot seem to rid my sandbed of these dang diatoms (at least they look like diatoms; pictures provided below). I will siphon my sandbed and literally within 12 hours, diatoms will have covered my sand bed again as if nothing was even done. Water changes don't solve the issue.

I am thinking my tank is still going through a mini cycle and is still balancing things like silicates ... but I am not sure.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated



-BG

 

[Andrewalex11]

I had handled a tank like this before, it was so bad that you could almost see the diatoms spreading across the sand after a siphon!

The way I battled this was by getting some intense flow going across the top of the sand bed, plenty of sand sifters of sorts, and obviously keeping consistent with your water quality. It's not a fast fix by any means but it will go away eventually.

 

[Brian Goldstein]

I had handled a tank like this before, it was so bad that you could almost see the diatoms spreading across the sand after a siphon!

The way I battled this was by getting some intense flow going across the top of the sand bed, plenty of sand sifters of sorts, and obviously keeping consistent with your water quality. It's not a fast fix by any means but it will go away eventually.

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm thinking I have plenty of flow, but maybe a powerhead more towards the bottom of my tank would help.

BG

 

[Brian Goldstein]

Here we go again...

Did my 3rd water change this week.. Sucked up all the diatoms from the sand bed... Lights weren't even on for 3 hours this morning and my sandbed was COVERED in diatoms. This is honestly getting extremely frustrating...

Does anyone think NO3 PO4-x would be a good treatment for this?

 

[philg3]

New Tank Syndrome. Just ride it out, eventually it will mature. I feel like every tank I've had has gone through this stage, but eventually it solves itself as the tank balances naturally. Constant water changes might actually be making it worse. Make sure you have a good cleanup crew and siphon out the diatoms with your regular schedule of water changes, but don't keep doing water changes specifically for the diatoms. I know it's ugly but everyone goes through it, if your levels look good and you keep up with regular maintenance it will pass.

 

[Reefin Dude]

diatoms need silicates. a diatom bloom is part of the silicates cycle. part of the uglies. they will go away once the sponges start growing and bind the silicates leaving little for the diatoms. as long as your water change water and top off water is RO/DI it is just a matter of time before the bloom will go away.

G~