Diatoms?????

[Tank2379]

I been cycling and started noticing Brown on my sand.... my hermits were eating it for a few days but they stopped now it's getting browner and browner......

 

[neilanh]

Yup, that's diatoms. Very common in a new tank, should clear itself up over a few weeks

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree...after your cycle is complete you can still see diatoms come and go...having sand sifting critters will help keep them under control. I keep a lot of Nassarius snails and reef hermits.

 

[Fierro Nights]

ive been dealing with these things for over two months, it comes in waves, i think there might be silica in my water when i do water changes.

ive started to use an algacide from API thats some how safe for my corals, ill see how it works out.

i did a phosphate test and im between 0 and .05 i have a few macro in my fuge but still some green showing up in my main tank.

i also have some silica removing resin which i dont know if it helped out or not for the diatom problem.

i had some aptasia on one of my rocks, i killed the first one w/ super glue but another one popped up beside it a week later, so its currently covered under a pressed piece of epoxy which should hopefully kill it, if not the poison water the rock is soaking in will kill it, hopefully the coraline i started to grow will regrow.

 

[Tank2379]

ive been dealing with these things for over two months, it comes in waves, i think there might be silica in my water when i do water changes.

ive started to use an algacide from API thats some how safe for my corals, ill see how it works out.

i did a phosphate test and im between 0 and .05 i have a few macro in my fuge but still some green showing up in my main tank.

i also have some silica removing resin which i dont know if it helped out or not for the diatom problem.

i had some aptasia on one of my rocks, i killed the first one w/ super glue but another one popped up beside it a week later, so its currently covered under a pressed piece of epoxy which should hopefully kill it, if not the poison water the rock is soaking in will kill it, hopefully the coraline i started to grow will regrow.

I would suggest getting a Bottle of Joe's Juice that will take care of your Aiptasia.....

 

[Tank2379]

I agree...after your cycle is complete you can still see diatoms come and go...having sand sifting critters will help keep them under control. I keep a lot of Nassarius snails and reef hermits.

Hey Ziggy is there different type of reef hermits? Which ones do you have? right not I have a few Hermits I believe I have 4 blue leg hermits and 3 red leg hermits.... should I get a few more right now I only have 1 snail in my tank and he's just been skimming the top of my tank now since hes become acclimated to my tank.....

 

[Ziggy953]

I have mostly scarlet reef hermits. The blue legs can cause problems in a reef. I do have some but they are the really small ones. I have a lot more snails then I have hermits.

 

[Tank2379]

Cool. Yeah the red leg was the only ones eating the diatoms on the bottom the blue leg hermits keep fighting the red leg hermits i thinks its bad, but it looks pretty cool when they do...haha

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

ive been dealing with these things for over two months, it comes in waves, i think there might be silica in my water when i do water changes.

ive started to use an algacide from API thats some how safe for my corals, ill see how it works out.

I'd be very cautious using an algaecide as a band-aid fix. It's really best to deal with the cause. Algaecides are very non-discriminate and could really throw things out of whack. You say you have macro in your fuge, but I'm guessing it won't be there for long if your dosing your whole tank with an algaecide.

 

[Fierro Nights]

yea i see what your saying, but its reef safe for soft and hard corals, how does is it safe to the algae w/in the corals that they use for food?

the active ingredient is poly[oxyethylene(dimethylimio)ethylene(dimethyliminio)ethylene dichloride ]

so its pretty much just polyethylene w/ i guess some oxygen molecules.

 

[neilanh]

poly[oxyethylene(dimethylimio)ethylene(dimethyliminio)ethylene dichloride ]

Say that 5 times fast.

 

[melosu58]

Hey Ziggy is there different type of reef hermits? Which ones do you have?

I have these. They seem to be good algea eaters and pretty reef safe.

Saltwater Aquarium Invertebrates for Marine Aquariums: Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab