diatoms in a re-established tank - Aquarium Advice

joannde · 10-12-2006, 01:00 AM

Ok - so I HATE diatoms and I want to mentally prepare myself just in case ....
I broke down my 10G to get rid of the BGA (nasty stuff !) and to relocate my bettas to individual tanks. So .......... should I expect to get diatoms again as if this were a new tank ?
Specs: 10G, everything was washed, bleached and rinsed like crazy. New substrate (Ecocomplete). Lots of stem plants - about 16 stems in total of arachanis, wisteria, and hornwort. 2x13W twisted compact flourescents.

Sicklid · 10-12-2006, 01:31 AM

The substrate is where I believe most diatoms blooms originate from especially when you use river gravel or quartz sand. I have never used eco-complete, but my guess is yes, you'll get them, but it's not going to go on forever.

joannde · 10-12-2006, 01:33 AM

sniff ... dang, I just hate diatoms. Not quite as much as I hated BGA, but its close !

JeffreyL · 10-12-2006, 05:16 AM

I feel your pain, Joannde! Don't like that stuff either, It has made an appearance in a 15 we just set up with sand, so I knew it was coming. Still, knowing it will go away, rather see that than the pelt algae, brush algae, hair algae, pea soup water .......... I honestly don't mind the soft spot algae anymore. Just a quick swipe once a week takes care of what the otos can't eat. The fat little things can't eat all of it. lol

Just take a deep breath and repeat, 'it is only temporary'. Good luck with the new setup. Here's hoping someone comes up with puffers at the last minute!!!!!!

joannde · 10-12-2006, 09:28 AM

Thanks JeffreyL - you're right, it does beat the heck out of algae - esp BGA, that stuff is awful !
I did get the puffers yesterday - Petsmart had them ! I got 4, 1 died in the bag and I just found another that died overnight. Since I got them on shipping day they had a double load of stress the poor little guys. I'll be replacing them later today (the store only got 6 in so they should have 2 left assuming they survived and nobody else has bought them yet).
The other two are really neat. They're exploring the tank. I just dropped a few pond snails in there for them; in fact they're hovering right near them but don't seem interested in eating them at the moment. I LOVE the way their eyes move - for little 1/2" fish they look pretty intelligent with their eyes moving around like that.

jbarr · 10-13-2006, 12:08 AM

Hey joannde, how big do those get?? My petsmart had them today too!
They were TIIIINY, I had to do a double-take to even notice them in that little tank.
The tag reccomnded 1+ gal, so I'm assuming they stay pretty small?

joannde · 10-13-2006, 12:17 AM

Drawf puffers max out at about 1.5 inches, but they are territorial and "messy" feeders, requiring live food. The general recommendation is that each DP be given 2 - 3 gallons of water so 4 is pretty much the max for a 10 gallon tank. They also can't be housed with anything except otos (usually) or shrimp (sometimes) so they need a species tank. But they're really neat - I'm really enjoying them already even tho at this point they're teeny weeny at at bit less than 1/2" each.

krap101 · 10-13-2006, 12:40 AM

diatom algae isnt neccessarily that bad. its really easy to just wipe off. (forgot my algae vocab) but the hard green kind is annoying, so is hair algae.

joannde · 10-13-2006, 01:07 AM

The diatoms just make everything look so DIRTY - I hate them. And they're not so easy to wipe off leaves in a heavily planted tank LOL

fish_4_all · 10-13-2006, 01:27 AM

I get them every time I put something against the walls of the tank and stop the circulation. I had them a month ago just form putting a cave in for BN. Once I moved it away from the sides, the BN ate them and they went away.