How do you get rid of diatoms

[beehive124]

I’ve had diatoms in my tank forever! They’ve never bothered my livestock, but just my eyes. So annoying to look at! Has anyone completely erraticated these guys? And if you have, how did you do it?

 

[Biglew11]

How long has the tank been up? How long is forever. If tank is fairly new we all have to go through this stage. If tank has been up for a year or more then you might want to test for silicates in your tank and tap water.

 

[beehive124]

It’s been up for 3ish years. Would I do an ICP test for that?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Diatoms feeds off of silicates. Silicates is normally in the new sand when we put our tanks together, which is why we almost always get diatoms in the beginning for a few weeks. Usually gets consumed after a few weeks. If you still have it after 3 years, either you are feeding silicates to the tank somehow or else it is not diatoms but something else. This is just what I think and my opinion of course.

 

[Miami Reef]

Check the TDS in your water. I bet it’s high.

 

[beehive124]

It might be brown algae, but I’ve read brown algae and diatoms are the same thing.

 

[beehive124]

Check the TDS in your water. I bet it’s high.

That was next on my agenda

 

[brandon429]

we beat them easily in our sand cleaning threads, first pass usually. how many gallons is your tank

 

[beehive124]

30 gallons

 

[Uncle99]

Are you sure they are diatoms and not dinos?
If you have diatoms check your water parameters somethings out of wack there if your 3 years mature.

If it’s Dinos, and they are the gold kind, Dino-X will wipe them out in days.

 

[beehive124]

I’m positive it’s not dino. My nitrate is at 20 ppm. Could that be a factor?

 

[brandon429]

it would not matter what it is, in a 30 this is the top mechanism in reefing for fixing all nano reef invasions:

 

[brandon429]

Algae/Cyano Issue Not Improving, Help Please?

Hi all, I have a Red Sea Reefer 250 that has been up and running for 8 months now. My issue is a strange black algae\cyano growth that has plagued me for the last two months+. I have been treating as follows: cleaning gravel twice weekly 20% water changes twice a week Addition of beneficial...

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[Miami Reef]

I’m positive it’s not dino. My nitrate is at 20 ppm. Could that be a factor?

Please check your TDS before trying to continue troubleshooting. Silicates are diatoms food source.

 

[Miami Reef]

Also, I highly encourage you to NOT listen to @brandon429 ‘s advice before checking your source water. Diatoms are in EVERY tank. You just have to remove the silicates.

Doing a rip clean (taking everything apart) is just a bandage. Why don’t you try to find the source of the problem. I guarantee that you can bleach your entire tank and start from scratch you’ll STILL get diatoms if you have silicates.

 

[beehive124]

Ok sounds like a plan.

 

[Uncle99]

I’m positive it’s not dino. My nitrate is at 20 ppm. Could that be a factor?

Just checking. Nitrate at 20ppm is not overly unusual.

 

[beehive124]

I think another factor could be I only have a couple snails, so I don’t have many critters cleaning the glass.

 

[Miami Reef]

I think another factor could be I only have a couple snails, so I don’t have many critters cleaning the glass.

You don’t need snails. This is not an effective claim for diatoms.