Diatoms

[clayton]

I have a 29 gallon with 2 sps colonies, 1 sps frag, and a kenya tree..it has a quad t5 light system with 2 atinics and 2 10,000k bulbs..its been running for over 6 months now and the diatoms have been present for 5 months..I used tap in the beginning but i have started using ro water for the past month (its the water from the machines at H-E-B) I am also running a bag of chemi-pure elite in my filter. I have also started using the microbacter 7. The diatoms completely cover my sandbed to the point it looks like a mixture of sand and dirt. I am just tired of looking at them and i thought they would have dicipated by now?I have ordered a sand sifting starfish but i am just waiting for its arrival. I am seriously considering getting a skimmer if this would help...Anyone have any advice on what i should do?

[johnsutter71]

Several factors might be the cause of your diatoms. For starters how is nitrates and phosphates? Increased nitrates and phosphates cause diatom outbreaks. do you have any cleanup crews? Trochus, astrea, and nassarius snails do a great job of filtering sand. I'd start with that over sand sifting star fish. I also recommend a dragon goby. Mine spends all day sifting sand. Also get some copepods and add then to your setup. They do a great job of eating waste and fish love them. Verify that you don't have any dead spots in your tank. Circulation plays a huge part in good water quality. Once you used tap water then it will take several water changes to filter out the impurities. I had a 55 gallon setup that I used tap water in and never could get my diatoms under control. When I upgraded I only used RO/DI water and after my new tank settled in I have no diatom issues at all. I also have 0 nitrates. Make sure you have plenty of space around your live rock for good circulation. Also do not over feed. I feed my fish every other day if that. Once you establish coraline algae on your life rocks the fish will nip on that and your pods in between feedings. I have pods in my fuge that are 1 cm in length and thousands in my main tank that I see at night when I shine a flashlight. Hope this helps.

[Big_Pun]

it's prob the water from heb unless you test it with a TDS meter in would trust its good water.

[Rollover]

Hi Folks,
Not to resurrect a thread, but I thought this might be usefull info for someone. My new tank got the end of the cycle diatom bloom to the point that I was about to start removing and scrubbing things. I had read an article on GARF about using mollies to control GHA and I figured since GHA is the next nuisance I'd try the mollies on the diatoms. I purchased and drip acclimatized two female orange mollies to saltwater and about 5 hours later they were released into the display tank to get busy. It took them (and the 25 or so fry they released) about 4 days to completely strip and "pelletize" the diatoms for removal. These guys are amazing! No other nuisance algaes have been able to get a foot hold and the fry (14 left at about 3/4 inch long) hang out in the sump maintaining my Chaeto ball. Once the tank scum was down to the point that the two adults started getting territorial I readjusted one to fresh water and she's doing the same job in my daughter's FW tank.

-John