Which side are you on?

[steak.mama]

Me and my husband have different thoughts through reading and general research from these threads. Our tank is cycling, we had nothing in it except for live rock and sand for 2 months, then added some coral…..now have fish for about 1 month. We were having little to none diatoms/cyano but when we did, we would do a water change, less light etc. it’s been a couple weeks and everything has been great, water parameters, coral happy, fish happy. My husband decided he wanted to do a water change anyways. I said to let it lie while things are good, we have a Red Sea reef mat, skimmer doing a lot of the heavy lifting. As soon as he did the water change, we now have a massive bloom of diatoms. So we will do a water change again. My question, when things look good, do we need to do a water change? Or why mess with a good thing? Thanks for your help!

 

[Katrina71]

Good, bad, and ugly...water changes are needed

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I always think of a water change as like opening the window and letting fresh air in. My tanks are years old and I still do weekly water changes on them all.

The diatoms are normal in a new tank and it’s just coincidence. Your actually heading into an algae phase and weekly water changes will be very beneficial to keeping the algae phase minimal.

 

[steak.mama]

I always think of a water change as like opening the window and letting fresh air in. My tanks are years old and I still do weekly water changes on them all.

The diatoms are normal in a new tank and it’s just coincidence. Your actually heading into an algae phase and weekly water changes will be very beneficial to keeping the algae phase minimal.

I was hoping that we would bypass the algae phase but know it’s inevitable

 

[JonoH]

Not sure why a water change would cause Diatoms though.
Are you using RODI water?

 

[steak.mama]

Not sure why a water change would cause Diatoms though.
Are you using RODI water?

It actually may be brown cyano

 

[vetteguy53081]

Me and my husband have different thoughts through reading and general research from these threads. Our tank is cycling, we had nothing in it except for live rock and sand for 2 months, then added some coral…..now have fish for about 1 month. We were having little to none diatoms/cyano but when we did, we would do a water change, less light etc. it’s been a couple weeks and everything has been great, water parameters, coral happy, fish happy. My husband decided he wanted to do a water change anyways. I said to let it lie while things are good, we have a Red Sea reef mat, skimmer doing a lot of the heavy lifting. As soon as he did the water change, we now have a massive bloom of diatoms. So we will do a water change again. My question, when things look good, do we need to do a water change? Or why mess with a good thing? Thanks for your help!

I would not be too concerned with diatoms as there are a few sources to getting them. Diatoms are a brown algae that appear in a newly cycled tank but can also appear in an established tank. They cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, and look ugly but overall they are harmless .
Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also thrive off of dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to start a bloom if you use tap water to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from your tank. The best way to prevent this to filter water through an 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 your reef and can be overcome once their food source is removed.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

 

[REEFRIED!]

I would continue to do the planned water changes.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I think water changes are worth doing

 

[kevgib67]

My last system was up for 16 years and I always did weekly water changes. The same with my current system. I’m one of the wierdos who enjoys water changes. I love the way everything looks a couple hours later.

 

[Tired]

Water changes should be done if you need to remove nutrients or replace various used-up elements. You can't (usually) tell if you need a water change just by the looks of the tank, you have to test the water to figure out the schedule your tank will need water changes done on.

Also, yeah, diatoms are just going to happen. Ignore 'em, they'll sort themselves out with time, tank maturity, and a proper cleanup crew.

 

[Idech]

Doing water changes will fuel dinos. So maybe that’s what you have. You can check with a microscope. Get a cheap one from Amazon. We can give you the exact model if you want.