Diatom Outbreak, NO END IN SIGHT!

[RocketSeason]

Hey gang,

My tank has been through its cycling pierod for a few weeks now. all my parameters are perfect.
Nitrites, Nitrates, and Amonia at 0 my ph is 8.2 and my temp is 80 degrees. Lights are on 10 hours a day and are controlled by a timer.

I have had an algea outbreak that has just continued to get worse for 3 weeks. Brown, short hair-like algea all over the sand. (diatom?)

My question is what to do with this? I thought that it would burn itself out after a week or so, but I see no end in sight. Should I add My Blue leg hermits and snails now??? Will they be able to fight it back properly????

thanks guys!
-Matt

 

[RocketSeason]

anybody?

 

[dralarms]

Add your cleanup crew, can't hurt. Also are you using tap water for water changes & top offs? if so you are just putting the stuff that diatoms eat right back in your tank. Right now I'm fighting cynao in 1 tank and black algae (of all things) in another.

 

[Bushman]

I hope you don't mind me asking another question along with yours but I have a similar problem with diatoms. It is getting pretty ugly.

What would be a sufficient cleaning crew for an 80 gal reef tank with 80 lbs lr?
The tank is newly cycled. Thus far I have an emerald crab and a tiny hermit crab like guy that were imported with the lr as well as one yellow mimic and 2 blue green.

 

[moejoephd]

To keep the growth down, try feeding less often and only refill and top off tank with RO water should be readily avaliable at water stores 30 cents a gallon, good luck

 

[RocketSeason]

yeah, i filled the tank originally with declorinated tap water a couple of months back and I have been slowly replacing it with r/o water over the last few weeks now that the cycle is done.

 

[Sparky]

Normally Diatoms will burn themselves out after 2-3 weeks. Thats how it worked for me. In addittion, I cut back on my lighting also. I went from 10 hours a day to 6 and it seemed to slow it down some. Eventually it just died off (or should I say replaced) with another algae, green. My clean up creww took care of that as it grew, they ate.


Mike

 

[canadian_eh]

I was in the same boat a couple of weeks ago and found that blue legs love the stuff. Mine mostly hang out on the rock at night and then come down and really clean the diatoms off the sand. Snails did the trick on the glass and PHs.

-Ron

 

[RocketSeason]

great! thanks gang! I will be getting my blue legs and snails tomorrow. do you think 12 of each would be a good number for a 37 gallon tank???

 

[canadian_eh]

A rule that I've seen a few times is about 1 snail per gal and 1 hermit for every 2. Not sure if many follow that. I'm still trying to find that equilibrium point so I keep buying more a little at a time.

 

[RocketSeason]

I am NOT buying 37 snails!!! 8O

 

[Sparky]

RocketSeason, I got 125 gal tank and I don't have a 125 of anything in my tank...LOL

Just pick up a dozen of the blue legged crabs and some snails for now. As you go along pick up a couple here and there until you get what you need in there. I find that I lose a snail or two a month.....don't know why but it just happens. I think everyone experiences the snail loss. I also have a couple of Emerald Crabs in my tank also....they are pretty good at cleaning up the Live Rock.

HTH

Mike

 

[canadian_eh]

Well I did say *about* 1 per gal Never really thought about a big tank like 125gal though..that's like $400 in snails at my LFS! I swear I had read that at least twice on this forum. I even put that in my "what I need to know" file where I keep good tips etc that I read here...oh well.

 

[Salttanker]

For what it's worth, I had the same problem in my tank months ago. It ended up being the light bulbs that needed to be changed out. Once changed, the problem disappeared. Something else to think about...

Mike

 

[RocketSeason]

I purchased a dozen blue hermits tonight. ( only 9 were hermits the other three were empty shells. )

I will have to go get 3 more tomorrow.

They are feasting on the biggest meal of their little lives tonight!

 

[tmurphy171]

When the attack of Diatoms effected my tank I pickup a few Otto Catfish. It was completely cleaned up in two days. Easy, fast and cheep!

 

[phases99]

When the attack of Diatoms effected my tank I pickup a few Otto Catfish. It was completely cleaned up in two days. Easy, fast and cheep!

For SW? 8O

 

[8965]

my red and blue hermits took care of much of my algae issues in the first 6 weeks i got them.

 

[RocketSeason]

I am already seeing a noticable difference, and they have only been in there 6 hours!!!

 

[tmurphy171]

For SW?

Opps My bad, I wandered over to read and forgot where I was