tons of diatoms in recently cycled tank

[Phoenixphire55]

I have a 40 gallon tallish tank that I got about 2 months ago and I think it's been cycled for about a month. I have my five goldfish of varying sizes in there and a cannister filter plus a bubble curtain. I only have test strips (lame, I know) but they show low nitrates, very low ammonia and low nitrites. I just got back from being in France for about 10 days and the tank had diatoms all over its walls and the fake plants in the middle. I did a 50% water change and cleaned off all the diatoms, but I just wanted to make sure that this is fairly normal for a newly cycled tank. The bottom of the tank is covered in various black / brown river stones in case thats pertinent. Anything sound dangerous about the diatoms?

 

[rich311k]

Perfectly normal in a new setup. They will go away on their own once they have consumed all the free silicates in the tank. They are nothing to worry about and will not harm anything. They are just annoying to look at.

 

[JohnPaul]

Part of the normal routine with a new tank. If you really find the sight of them distracting, then getting a few Oto catfish will help a lot, as they are just about the only fish I know of that will readily eat those things. Basically every new tank I set up gets Otos once the diatoms start appearing, and it helps a lot.

 

[marchmaxima]

I got sick of looking at diatoms so I got otos. Cleaned up everything nicely, excvept the sandy substrate. for some reason they can't seem to get it off there.

 

[tropicfishman]

the good thing about diatoms is that they are completly harmless and some fish and inverts will graze on them, but not enough to remove them completely. the bad thing is they go crazy and cover everything lol. But yes it is fairly common for diatoms to develop during the cycle of a new tank.

 

[kimo]

The more water changes are done the longer the diatoms will last. Constantly re-introducing silicates through new water keeps them going longer.

 

[MisticX]

what do you mean by diatoms ?

 

[CatatonicBug]

what do you mean by diatoms ?

It's that black, fuzzy, dot-type stuff that grows all over everything.

 

[marchmaxima]

It's that black, fuzzy, dot-type stuff that grows all over everything.

huh? I thought it was a brown-coloured algae.

 

[CatatonicBug]

huh? I thought it was a brown-coloured algae.

Well, this is what it looked like on the castle thingy in my main tank. They were small, round dots that seemed to spread very quickly, and were black in color with a slight fuzz to them. They also grew on the leaves of my plants. After getting a Python (thanks Scott!) I have been doing tons of PWCs and the black dots have all but disappeared.

 

[rkilling1]

That looks more like BBA then Diatoms CatatonicBug.

Diatoms are brown in color and are not bushy.

I would say that the Excel you are adding (if you are adding it to this tank as well) is what is helping get ride of it. PWC's will only make it worse if it is BBA.

Here is a nice article with some pics for reference:

Aquarium Algae ID (updated)

 

[CatatonicBug]

I may be wrong in the ID of my black stuff, but the BBA pictures show really bushy stuff, and what I had was really tiny fuzz. It was shorter than .5 mm tall.Whatever it was, I'm glad it seems to be fading now, 'cause it's ugly on my white castle.

 

[Purrbox]

CatatonicBug - I agree with Rkilling. That looks like BBA. There are many forms of BBA, and they don't all look exactly the same. If the stuff you have is hard to scrub off, then it's BBA. If it brushes of easily and seems more like dust, then it may actually be diatoms. I haven't found that waterchanges make BBA any worse though.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

I have a brand new setup and what I've been told was diatoms, its deff brown and spotted on the glass, wipes off easy. Now the stuff on the gravel, fake plants, decorations does not come off as easy. BTW tank has been setup since 2/27/08 and I still had some last week but I think its almost gone.

 

[rkilling1]

I haven't found that waterchanges make BBA any worse though.

Nor have I, but doing a "ton" of PWC's will/could cause the CO2 levels to change enough to induce more BBA.

I was not giving that advice based on my own experience, rather from other posts throughout the years I have been here.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/low-light-bba-90189.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/bba-woes-dosing-question-88209.html