Diatoms* Getting Very Irritating.

[Marconis]

Alright. It's been so long now. I am sick of wiping down my rocks everyday. I removed some rocks that a few members thought could be causing them, and still diatoms. I reduced feedings to once a day, and diatoms keep rapidly coming back. Should I just let my rocks turn brown and wait for them to go away?...which seems like never.

[SparKy697]

I wonder if this could be caused by rescaping the tank every 11.5 minutes...

The fact that this has been going on for such a long time, I'd be tempted to think silicates. You have to have quite a supply in that tank. Consider removing all decorations and getting things cleared up. Then add them back one at a time to see if you can get the diatoms to start growing again. This may help you identify the source.

[7Enigma]

What is your substrate? PFS? Or something else?

I would recommend against cleaning the decorations and glass. That coat of diatoms should eventually exhaust the food supply and die off. By constantly cleaning/scraping the surfaces you might be replenishing the food source.

A BN pleco is an excellent (and not easily intimidated) fish for general cleanup duty. I have one in my 20gallon with some territorial fish (tiger barbs, dwarf gourami) that normally nip/attack/kill new additions and he has done fine. I would recommend purchasing the largest one they have to help against the possible aggresion however (~5" is their average max size). He will gladly go to town on the surfaces and they are beautiful fish (I use that term in its most unique way).

[Marconis]

I have Tahitian Moon Sand, but before that I had PFS. I thought only Otos cleaned up brown algae?

[Devilishturtles]

Marco how is flow in your tank?

I agree that just leaving them alone should do the trick. Try not doing ANYTHING for a month or so, besides maybe a small water change if you must, and see if that helps. Diatoms need to starve themselves out.

[Marconis]

The flow in my tank is good I suppose. I guess I'll leave the algae on the rocks alone, but even the glass? I don't think I can bare seeing my glass all brown.

[Lonewolfblue]

Another thing about diatoms, is of you try to clean it up, it will last longer because you spread the diatoms around to other parts of the tank, and if there's any silicates in those other areas, they come back just as fast. Otos are the best defense against diatoms, and my preference is 2/10G. They do a wonderful job, and then when the tank starts looking much cleaner, you will then need to suppliment algae wafers for the otos, or they will starve. The fastest ways to rid the diatoms is either get otos, or don't bother the diatoms and they will go away on their own in a few days to a few weeks, depending on the tank.

[Marconis]

LOL, wish I knew this earlier! I did try otos once and they were abused immediately so I had to take em out.

[jdizzle3id]

I might be a little late chiming in on this one but, I had been having the same problem recently. I finally decided to get some different lighting. I tried pure actinic because I had heard that plants and algae couldn't use that type of light. I got home and tried them but I did not like the color of them (too blue). I took them back and got some 50/50 "reef sun" bulbs. The colors from these bulbs are much better. I also cut back on my feeding a bit and increased my water changes. I can't actually check my nitrate levels at the moment because that particular solution bottle in my test kit broke open and spilled everywhere about two weeks ago. Anyway I did all these changes about a week ago and so far so good. I can not say for sure if any one thing was the one that did the trick. But with a lighting change, more frequent pwc's, and a cut down on feedings, my problems seem to be solved.

[7Enigma]

Originally Posted by jdizzle3id

I might be a little late chiming in on this one but, I had been having the same problem recently. I finally decided to get some different lighting. I tried pure actinic because I had heard that plants and algae couldn't use that type of light. I got home and tried them but I did not like the color of them (too blue). I took them back and got some 50/50 "reef sun" bulbs. The colors from these bulbs are much better. I also cut back on my feeding a bit and increased my water changes. I can't actually check my nitrate levels at the moment because that particular solution bottle in my test kit broke open and spilled everywhere about two weeks ago. Anyway I did all these changes about a week ago and so far so good. I can not say for sure if any one thing was the one that did the trick. But with a lighting change, more frequent pwc's, and a cut down on feedings, my problems seem to be solved.

jdizzle3id,

Despite the name in the topic diatoms are not algae and do not benefit from light, nor typical "food" that both plants and algae consume (ammonia). They feed off silicates which are present in many tank decorations/substrate/filters/glass/etc. All tanks in their early days will have a diatom outbreak, most will go away in a couple weeks/months without any treatment (they exhaust their food supply and simply die off). This case is a bit different since its possible an external supply is being introduced (say the water), or the decorations in the tank have so much that they are not quickly used up.

Your methods of lowering the light level, decreased feedings, and increased PWC's will not benefit a diatom outbreak. They are, however, exactly what should be done to curb algae issues (once fert dosing is solved).