I am going insane with these diatoms! (I think)

[Just John]

I have a bad case of diatoms (I think) that suddenly appeared in my 9 month old tank and won't go away. I had diatoms in March, later Cyano and also Dinos. Diatoms should be done with! This is a brown dusting that partially blows off and reproduces at an insane rate. The pictures below are from when I cleaned up the sand today and a few hours later. No bubbles, no slime. The only things that changed, including parameters, were I used about a 1/2 gal of grocery store spring water instead of rodi once (13 gal tank) about a week before this started and added a half dozen frag plugs I bought on Amazon. I have almost all softies and no fish, so I decided to do a large water change.
I put in a UV filter and did a 50% water change. No improvement. Another 50% water change. No improvement. Removed all the new plugs but one (moved corals onto old plugs) and did an 80% water change with only a little improvement. What is going on?

 

[dontbuyxenia]

what are your nutrients and phosphates

 

[jgirardnrg]

What's in there for cleanup crew?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

With these tight shots it’s hard to see how overall clean your tank is. Are your Nitrates high? If you were to deep syphon your sandbed would dirt/dust come out? Algaes have a tough time with pristine.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Diatoms are a brown algae that typically appear in a reef tank that has just completed its cycle but they can also appear in an established reef tank. They can cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, you name it. Diatoms look ugly but in most cases they are harmless so the key is to not panic when they appear.
Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit, although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you put the kibosh on the source, the outbreak should last a couple of weeks so just be patient and it will pass. For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a mag float, a turkey baster or a toothbrush can access other areas of the tank. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates.
To prevent their return, practice good aquarium husbandry by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

 

[Just John]

After all the times I have asked people to provide their parameters I can't believe I didn't do it. I have to dose nitrates to keep them above zero, so they never get high. I don't have any fish that I am feeding.

pH - 8.1
Alk - 7.3
Phos - .01
Nit - 7
Sal - 1.025
Temp - 79-80

With 6 sm/med Mexican turbo snails and 2 or 3 Cerith the rocks are kept clean and I can deal with dirty sand for a while. The main concern is that it grows so fast that it is growing all over the zoas (I have quite a few) and several colonies stay closed. I have to dust them all off twice a day. I can get the diatoms off easily, but the zoas are still a concern. I just can't figure out the source of silicates. Lots of water changed since the single small use of non rodi water and the only items added (the plugs) removed.

 

[saltyhog]

Only way to say for sure is to get a sample under a microscope. With that nutrient imbalance, a dino like amphidinium is a possibility and can look like that.

 

[vetteguy53081]

After all the times I have asked people to provide their parameters I can't believe I didn't do it. I have to dose nitrates to keep them above zero, so they never get high. I don't have any fish that I am feeding.

pH - 8.1
Alk - 7.3
Phos - .01
Nit - 7
Sal - 1.025
Temp - 79-80

With 6 sm/med Mexican turbo snails and 2 or 3 Cerith the rocks are kept clean and I can deal with dirty sand for a while. The main concern is that it grows so fast that it is growing all over the zoas (I have quite a few) and several colonies stay closed. I have to dust them all off twice a day. I can get the diatoms off easily, but the zoas are still a concern. I just can't figure out the source of silicates. Lots of water changed since the single small use of non rodi water and the only items added (the plugs) removed.

Alk a little low

 

[Nano sapiens]

I can sympathize as I battled this pest twice in over 13 years in a 12g nano (1st time ~4 months battle time, 2nd time ~9 months).

This issue arose when the tank had fish that either grew too large (2 Clownfish) or too many fish (Online vendor sent me an incorrect order), which in both instances required a lot of feeding, which equated to high nutrient availability in the sand bed and water column for nitrate (my PO4 was 0 - 0.01 ppm and NO3 was ~ 40 ppm).

The fix for me in the last instance was to reduce the fish load from 5 to 2 fish, and hence a reduction in feeding, and religiously vacuum the sand bed/remove any detritus buildup areas with the weekly water change. It is possible that the eventual reinstatement of a more reef normal PO4 to NO3 levels was helpful (my PO4 was 0 - 0.01 ppm and NO3 came down to ~ 5 ppm) or it may have been the reduction in TOC (total organic carbon) to a level that deprived the pest organism of it's main food source. Or possibly a combination of both.

The main point is that it is beatable, but it can be a slow going process. At any rate, it will test your reefing fortitude

 

[sleephinx]

Diatoms are a brown algae that typically appear in a reef tank that has just completed its cycle but they can also appear in an established reef tank. They can cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, you name it. Diatoms look ugly but in most cases they are harmless so the key is to not panic when they appear.
Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit, although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you put the kibosh on the source, the outbreak should last a couple of weeks so just be patient and it will pass. For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a mag float, a turkey baster or a toothbrush can access other areas of the tank. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates.
To prevent their return, practice good aquarium husbandry by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

when im on cylcle and have diatom bloom, should i turn off my lights off?

 

[vetteguy53081]

when im on cylcle and have diatom bloom, should i turn off my lights off?

3 day blackouts are effective. If your tank is at or near a window, this can also be a cause

 

[tharbin]

And...don't EVER use spring water again. If you have to use store water look for purified (there are a few that are labeled as RO--but not DI) or distilled but beware that some distilled water may contain a little copper but that is pretty rare today I believe.