everlasting diatoms???

[jcarlilesiu]

My 56 gallon tank has been up and running for almost a year. Recently there has been evidence of what appears to be diatoms covering some of my older plant leafs and my driftwood (at least these are the only place I can find it). The brown easily wipes off with just rubbing between my forefinger and tumb. The reason why I am asking this question is... isn't diatoms typically only in new setups?

This stuff started showing its face when I was conducting 2 -3 50% water changes a week due to housing discus. When this problem of diatoms first came up, and while talking to the trustworthy LFS, they stated it was most likely the effects of a new setup due to the pristine quality of the water. They also stated that these farm raised Discus would do fine in less water changes, and that should cause the diatoms to disappear.

I have since cut back my water changes to 50% per week, upped the pressurized CO2, added root tabs, and monitored my levels as well as concentrated on dosing. What ever this brown stuff is just won't go away.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10-20ppm (depending on where tested vs. water change schedule)

pressurized CO2 to about 35-40 ppm
dosing pottasium (1 tsp dry fert weekly)
CSM+B every other day
and phosphates as required for 2-3 ppm

lighting = 30" dual 65 W currentUSA compact fixture with (1) 6700/10000 and (1) 10000/atinic

Any clues what this is or how to make it go away?

 

[zacusmaximus]

Probably silicates in your water. What is your water source?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Im on city of CHicago water, straight out of lake michigan.... never had this problem before only within the last month

 

[Purrbox]

There's either something new in the water source or something new in your tank that is leeching the silicates. Either it will work itself out in a few weeks or there's something constantly refreshing the source. I'd probably just hedge your bets and pic up some Otos.

 

[mr funktastic]

i second the ottos. they are amazing at cleaning up the diatoms and great all around fish.

 

[krap101]

not at all stores, but at some the oto's that come in are extremely picky, and die off pretty easy. (most chain stores)

and has anybody noticed that the price of otos went up?

 

[7Enigma]

With your size tank I'd think of picking up a BN pleco instead of the Oto's. Oto's are great, but nothing NOTHING can touch the sheer apetite of a BN. I can tell in the morning where it spent most of its time feeding at night in my tank because there is a large pile of poo on the substrate below where it ate. And its mouth has got to be 20% of its body at least.

But as mentioned it seems something in your tank is beginning to break down and release silicates. Do you use a razor blade or other tool on the tank glass frequently? I recently stopped doing this and all traces of diatoms have disappeared (probably to the displeasure of my Oto's ). What I was doing was removing the "protective" bacterial film that I assume prevents the silicates from being accessible to the diatoms. This also seems to have helped control the spot algae I was getting on the glass as it probably cannot stick as well to the slimy surface. Oh and the glass itself does not look bad at all.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

OK... so i think i might have figured it out. I have been feeding some frozen discus formula beef heart to the discus, and this stuff has "gel binder" which keeps it all together so it doesn't destroy the water quality and keeps the food all together to be picked off of by the fish. Is it possible this "gel binder" has silicates?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Well... if anybody cares... did a CO2 reading this weekend to find my disolved CO2 at 9ppm. DOOH!... my reactor and power head was really dirty and obviously not doing a very good disolving the CO2. I tore it all apart and cleaned it well and it seems to be doing the job now.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Ok.... I know this is an old thread, but im just completely frustrated.

I have never had a problem with diatoms like this.

Since I last posted I have:

-Cleaned my Co2 reactor levels back up between 40-50 ppm
-Got 4 ottos, 1 which died in the bag, one that I found a few days later
-Did a massive trimming, concentrating on the leaves covered in diatoms
-Completely tore down and cleaned my cannister of all organic materials
-Put a power head in the corner at the bottom of the tank to help circulation
-Put a phosphate absorbing material in a bag in with my filter media to remove some disolved organic compounds
-Replaced one of my 65 W bulbs (atinic one) to a dual 10,000K attinic to increase WPG
-Stopped 50% weekly water changes for the discus thinking silicates are coming in from Chicago Water

Still.. diatoms like crazy. It is getting so bad that my ozelotte sword looks brown and dead, only to find out that its because it is covered in diatoms. When I wipe it off, its green underneath, however this is having a major impact on the plant. I dont' think its getting as much life, and is really looking pretty thinned out. My red ludwigias older leaves are completely brown and not easy to wipe off with out ripping them off. The new portions (fast growing) are bright green. My poor poor val. It used to be a wall in the back of my tank. So green and healthy, now covered in brown and dieing portions, most likely due to light. It is still propogating like crazy but isn't nearly as stunning as it was.

I really need some advice here.

I am now noticing a slight increase in the amount of hair algae on the old portions of val which have stopped growning at the top of the tank closest to the light.

Noticing fuzz algae on the glass

fighting BBA on driftwood. I pulled a peice out and soaked in very hot water... all BBA turned grey and disappeared. The other peice of wood has a ton of moss on it that I don't want to kill.

Anybody in chicago want to come over and fix this for me? haha... seriously

 

[fish_4_all]

Well less lighting is only going to make things worse from what I have read. What is your substrate? If it is standard play sand it could be the cause all by itself. Depending on the source I have founf that some sands are almost completely silica. Pool filter sand is much better and doesn't have the silica amounts. The phosphate remover could cause more problems also as it will cause your phosphates to bottom out and possibly other nutrients. If you have ornaments or caves that are against the wall of the tank that could cause them also as water flow would be minimul.

I get an outbreak every time I put someting against the side of my tanks so don't feel bad, diatoms are not limited to new setups.

That is typical results for getting otos. Get a few more so they have a good group and will be much happier.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

My substrate is a fine aquarium gravel. Tank has been established for about a year and never had this problem before. Never changed substrate. The lighting was increased not decreased. I have been monitoring phosphates since I put in the phosphate remover and they are still haning around 2 or 3 ppm. Nitate 15-20. The tank is extremely heavily planted and many times plants are up against the glass themselves. most of the diatoms are appearing in the center of the tank however. I am going to pick up some more ottos this weekend.

 

[fish_4_all]

Is the gravel epoxy coated? Even if it isn't, I would guess there is the chance that every gravel vacuum roughs up some edges of some of the gravel and could damage the "slime" coating on the gravel and expose more silica. Sorry, read lighting amounts backwards. Iwould also imagine that if there is some type of silica in your tap water that over time it could have bonded with the gravel, settled out and concentrated in the gravel or is just starting to get in high enough levels that the diatoms can finally make use of it.

I would try a couple things. Don't gravel vac the area a couple times and see if it gets better or worse. Maybe try so bottled water to see if that helps which would tell you if there is silica in the water.

Also, the otos should eat it but my BN pleco simple devoured it the day I got them and I had a patch that was 3x6 in my 10 gallon tank. He ate it all in less than 6 hours.

 

[JRagg]

As far as the otos go, look for ones in the store that have huge bellies and are eating when you see them. I got two about 2 weeks ago, and the one that was eating when I got him has a nice healthy fat belly, while the other one still looks so-so. I'm pretty sure that's the key to success when choosing otos.