Diatoms

[Jasoncwrd2002]

So my tank has been running for 3 weeks. I went with a fish in cycle of 5 yellow tail damsels. Have live rock and agrate substrate. Also running a sump and protein skimmer. Have one rio 1400 power head to provide circulation mounted on one side of tank and the sump return in the other side.
Today I noticed alot of brown stuff on the sump intake box (I don't know proper name off top if my head). And thru out Day it seems to be growing. Last look I seen it on the skimmer intake, and power head. Also some on the sand too I believe.
Doing my research some articles said it was good, some said it meant my cycle was about complete. I don't really like it tho so was researching ways to control and remove it. I read tangs, and snails. I currently have about 13 turbo snails in the tank (in adding about 5 a week) but don't think they will get on the sump intake box. As for parameters I tested last night and they were within tolerance. Also last night I had to too do a emergeny rehome of two stripped damsels into the 55g from my 20. They were hurting but today they look 100 times better. Its a chest showing show in that tank tho because of the damsels.

But my question is what do y'all think about the diatom? Should I worry about it? Wipe it off? Get a tang or flame angelfish?

 

[TheTodd]

It will die off, so no worries. It feeds off silica and once that's all gone, it disappears. It does not mean your tank is cycled though. Your tank is cycled once your parameters have bounced around and you end up with zero ammonia and nitrites and usually some higher level of nitrates.

You are going to want to think twice about those Damsels after cycling. They tend to be nasty little fish that don't play nicely with others. If you have lots of live rock, they are a bugger to catch too.

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

Yep tracking damsel aggressiveness. They were going at it at first but now the stripped damsels have established dominance I think.

 

[TheTodd]

Right, but if you add new fish, they have new targets to go after. It's gotta be tough fish that can hold their own or they will get beat up and/or stressed.

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

Yea yellow tails are going away for sure. My stripped damsels were doing good with clownfish in the 20g but we shall see. I'm gonna give it a few more weeks then go get my first fish over 10 dollars lol

 

[TheTodd]

I've always heard that the damsels with stripes or spots tend to be the most aggressive. Like with some triggers, Damsels can start off friendly and then one day something snaps and they become aggressive. I had an old tank with one damsel that was a model citizen the entire time I had him, but I think I got lucky.