Diatoms* Getting Very Irritating.

[Marconis]

About 2 months ago, my tank started developing diatoms. Everything in my tank began to turn brown, even after about two days of scrubbing it off. It's really starting to annoy me. I have rocks in my tank that are beige/white. I sprayed one with the hose on Monday and got all the brown gunk off. Within two days, it turned brown again! The walls of my tank get fuzzy green algae on it daily. I keep my light on for 8-10 hrs a day, and have a 40W bulb. Do I have too much light or something? Do diatoms last this long?

 

[Jchillin]

I would guess that you have a lot of silicates that are being energized by a lack of light. Try keeping your lights on for 12 hours and see if that helps. It is posited that diatoms are the result of insufficient lighting and a healthy amount of silicates.

 

[Marconis]

Hm, alright. I'll give it a go.

 

[Bubble_B0y]

check your nitrates
Brown algae is caused by high nitrates (over 50)

 

[Marconis]

I did test, my nitrates are in between 5-10.

 

[kickeralpine]

they dont last to long and ottos will clean up brown aleg real good mine cleaned my tank free of diatoms with in days of putting them in there

 

[gu2high]

buy ottos, 1 otto/per 10gal, it will clean your tank within 3 days.

 

[tropicfishman]

diatoms are cuased by too little lgihting, could that be your problem?

 

[aquariumnoob]

although one oto would clean a 10 gal in 3 days, I would recommend getting 2-3, I have 3 in my 10 gal, because they really enjoy the company. It just means that you'll need to put in some supplemental food once the algae is gone, such as algae wafers and/or zucchini.

 

[Marconis]

Well, I have been keeping my light on for 12hrs daily now and I haven't seen any change. It may have gotten worse. Ill consider buying an otto.

 

[Marconis]

Today I was planning on taking everything out of my tank and cleaning it, but stopped myself since the brown algae will probably come back. I have been keeping my lights on for 12 hours and the algae hasnt gone away, its worsened. I took a few photos to show you how bad it is. Another thing though, I tested my nitrate today just to double check, and it is showing up as 5. **One more thing---The algae is only on the tops of rocks or wherever light hits it the most**

Firstly, it went from this:

to this in just a few days:

 

[vfc]

Marconis,
Join the crowd of NE US fish keepers dealing with water related troubles. I'm from the Philly area and my tap water comes from Aqua America; the largest water company in the US. I have posted on multiple web sites about various water problems. Here is a summary:

- Nitrates out of the tap between 20-30PPM
- Very bad water during the winter months; caused primarily by water runoff over frozen soil. Nitrates jump very high, and the excess oxygen saturation (lethal amounts) caused by low temperature.
- adding tap water and Prime directly to the tank kills fish. I need to premix the water and Prime in a bucket and circulate the mixture for at least an hour before using it.
- African cichlids that do not spawn. Livebearers (guppies & sword tails) that do not have babies.
- Diatoms that just won't go away. They are very bad (like your pictures) for over 6 to 8 months. Even after 1 1/2 years, I still have them.
- Film on top of the water that won't go away. The only way to control it is to run water skimmers constantly.

I have all these problems on all of my tanks (26G, 75G, and 150G). My neighbor installed an RO/DI system to correct his problem. I just don't want to spend the money or extra time for water prep. So I have resigned myself to living with the problem.

Other than the diatoms, do you suffer from any of the other problems I have?

 

[Marconis]

Well first off, Im sorry to hear that you have all those problems.

-I have never tested my nitrate out of the tap, but I will do so when I get home today.
-I always mix in my dechlorinator in a bucket before adding it to the tank
-One of my Africans actually left eggs on one of my rocks but didn't hold them in her mouth.
-As for the film on top of the water---When I first set up my 46, I had a film like substance on top of my water. After a month it went away and I never saw it again. On my 20L, there is a "film" of bubbles on the surface, but I think it is because I keep the water level slightly low in that tank and all the bubbles rise from the water flow of the filter.

 

[Marconis]

How will an oto do with Africans? I really want to get one since you all say they can get rid of my brown algae.

 

[kickeralpine]

big or small african and ya need atleast 3 in a 46 gallon they work magic them little ottos and i would do 50% water changes weekly worked for me clean your gravel also and dont clean the glass all your doing is moving it off the glass then it goes else where feed only once a day or every 2 days i seen the more i feed my fish the more it came on ottos will clean it up and do the water changes it will go away

 

[Marconis]

Small africans. I am buying 5 tonight, hope they can survive with the cichlids.


**What a horrible idea. The cichlids chased them and nipped at them right after putting them into the water. I rescued them and put them in my 20L. They will probably die, poor guys, my horrible mistake.

 

[kickeralpine]

what cichlids are they?

 

[JustOneMore20]

Adding a fish to clean up the algae doesn't always solve your problems, as you can see. It just created new ones for you. I certainly wouldn't put otos in with mbuna as they chase anything and everything usually (especially each other). Mine have killed 2 of my smaller Eurekas, so I won't ever add anything else non-Mbuna or small.

Diatoms, like said above can be caused by low lighting and high silicates. Almost all non-planted tanks go through a diatom stage that lasts sometimes a few months. When I started up my Malawi tank, I had terrible diatoms for a couple months and even made a post about it, but in the end, I just waited until it was over and the algae turned to green algae, which actually looks natural and kind of nice (and doesn't take over the whole tank).

I suggest you buy a sponge on a stick thing to scrub the glass to make it look a tad nicer every week when you change water (or however often you do WCs) and just think that it will eventually be over with.

 

[Marconis]

JChillin suggested I take out my porous rocks as this can be causing it. I did, so now we shall wait.

 

[vfc]

After searching for over a year, I found a Bristle Nose at my new LFS. He's about five inches; hopefully big enough to survive in my 150G African Cichlid tank.

The day after I put him in I couldn't find him. I feared the worse (eaten), but then noticed what should have been obvious; the brown algae was completely gone. Since my brown algae doesn't go away, this BN is going to put on weight. Been three days now and I spotted him under a rock. So hopefully the cichlids are leaving him alone to do his magic.