huge diatom bloom

[TommyP]

Hey all just got home from work today. Yesterday I noticed a slight diatom bloom on the sand just a tad bit of brown color but thought it was debree since I added more live rock and stirred up the tank a little. I get home from work just now and its gross! on the lower part of the glass on some of the rock and all over the sand bed even on the top of my circulation pumps. I have a yellow tang and 2 clowns. cleaner shrimp, sand sifting star fish, and a peppermint shrimp. 2 snails, 1 of them is a turbo who just stays on the glass. What should I do, I assume a water change but don't have that much water around since im still waiting for the guy/lady to send me my ro/di machine i bought on e-bay.

1. will this go away
2. i didnt get a chance to check my params i just walked in the door
3. will it harm my fish

thank you in advance. picture to follow.

 

[danbstrong]

Hey all just got home from work today. Yesterday I noticed a slight diatom bloom on the sand just a tad bit of brown color but thought it was debree since I added more live rock and stirred up the tank a little. I get home from work just now and its gross! on the lower part of the glass on some of the rock and all over the sand bed even on the top of my circulation pumps. I have a yellow tang and 2 clowns. cleaner shrimp, sand sifting star fish, and a peppermint shrimp. 2 snails, 1 of them is a turbo who just stays on the glass. What should I do, I assume a water change but don't have that much water around since im still waiting for the guy/lady to send me my ro/di machine i bought on e-bay.

1. will this go away
2. i didnt get a chance to check my params i just walked in the door
3. will it harm my fish

thank you in advance. picture to follow.

Not harmful just ugly lol itll go away once silicates are consumed

 

[TommyP]

Thank you so much, what a relief. I thought I was going to have to send my gf to the store (petco) to buy water to do a change quick tomorrow while im waiting for my ro/di machine to come. I remember vaguely when i had my 10g set up after it was all settled in and after it was fully cycled and maturing it happened too but i forgot what the input was on this. Its alot worse on my 55g lol. Thanks again. Here's some pictures anyway of my tank.

 

[TommyP]

 

[Beengirl]

A conch will likely help clean it up too, some of them eat diatoms. I know I'm always touting conchs, but I just love mine! My sand always looks good.

 

[Zactheninja]

A conch will likely help clean it up too, some of them eat diatoms. I know I'm always touting conchs, but I just love mine! My sand always looks good.

I saw a conch at petco for 5 dollars!

 

[danbstrong]

Thats not even bad youll be fine save your gf a trip just stick to scheduled water changes

 

[TommyP]

Thats not even bad youll be fine save your gf a trip just stick to scheduled water changes

It looks a lot worse in person, the pictures don't do justice. I was actually looking at a conch today it was like $5 on reefs2go.com but there were 2 differnt types. One was a queen conch and one was a fighting conch. Which do you have?

 

[danbstrong]

It looks a lot worse in person, the pictures don't do justice. I was actually looking at a conch today it was like $5 on reefs2go.com but there were 2 differnt types. One was a queen conch and one was a fighting conch. Which do you have?

Ive never used conch i use tongan nass i have 35 in my 55g their 2$\each around here

 

[TommyP]

A conch will likely help clean it up too, some of them eat diatoms. I know I'm always touting conchs, but I just love mine! My sand always looks good.

what type do you have? I saw some today I was looking them up on reefs2go there were like 5 bucks and had a fighting conch or a queen conch i think? I dont want them to plow through my rocks though since I have them laying on top of eachother that's the only thing I was worried about.

 

[Beengirl]

what type do you have? I saw some today I was looking them up on reefs2go there were like 5 bucks and had a fighting conch or a queen conch i think? I dont want them to plow through my rocks though since I have them laying on top of eachother that's the only thing I was worried about.

I have what i was told are 2 strawberry conch. Ones a lot bigger than the other. The big one is about 3", the other maybe 2". My rocks aren't glued either, and I've had no problems. $5 is a great deal! I paid about $15 for each of mine. They can't climb up the rocks. They can take fairly good sized "steps" and crawl over small things on the sand, but they stay on the sand. At times they'll head behind the rock and i wont see them for a couple of days, but then they come back around. They'll bury themselves about halfway in the sand to sleep. They stick their tongue waaayy out sometimes when they clean, it's kinda cool to watch. And then those eyes that poke out in different directions, it's weird. Lol. But they keep my sand looking great! I'm glad I got them.

 

[Beengirl]

Also, from what I've read, only need 1 conch per 2sq feet of sand. They work fairly quick for a giant snail.

 

[Albino]

I have a conch that I got on beengirls suggestion and it does an awesome job! Very cool to watch as well. He's been buried in the sand a few day but I see an eye pop out every now and then so I assume he's ok lol... But for $5 it's a great deal

 

[TommyP]

I'll have to check my LFS to see if they have a conch. Ive always wanted one and I was thinking about getting 1 for my 55g tank it's 48long by 12 wide so I want to make sure that he doesnt starve and gets to clean and roam the sand bed by himself. If i order it offline it was $5 but im sure theyll nail me on a shipping charge or something so even if its 15 at the store ill just grab it. I'll post up some pics when/if I get it this weekend or next after thanksgiving.