Diatoms (?) all over!!

[MDDad]

Tank has been cycled since about December 1. I always had a little bit of a brown, algae like substance, but over the last several weeks it has exploded.

Diatoms are my guess. In particular, it uglies up the substrate, which is a sandlike substance I bought at PetSmart. It seems like if I gently stir the very surface of the substrate, it actually cleans it off and the diatoms turn into a "dust" in the water, which is then sucked out by the filtration system over the course of a few minutes. This is the only way I can get the substrate looking good again. Even vacuuming it doesn't really work, unless I suck it all up in there which I don't like to do.

Is this safe? Does it help or hurt overall? Any other ideas?

 

[Anna94]

I've had the same problem for almost 2 years now. It has to do with silicates and phosphates in tap water. Get some otocinclus'; they feed on diatoms. I would also suggest once a month or every 2 months clean the glass and if you have any decor or fake plants to soak them in bleach water for 15-30 minutes and then rinse them off REALLY WELL. The bleach will remove the diatoms off the decor and plants, but after a few soakings the colors on the plants and decor will start to fade and the paint on the decor may chip off a little.

 

[AJ_117]

I agree with Anna, you may also benefit from leaving the plants in a bucket of water with dechlorinator for a bit.

You could also pick up a pack of phosphate remover made my seachem, I believe it is the same as Purigen - a mesh pack you can leave in your filter.

 

[MDDad]

I don't have any fake plants, mine are all live - Hornwort, a Marimo ball, a Java Fern, and an Anubius nana.


Wouldn't removing phosphates w/the Seachem stuff "starve" the live plants as well?


As far as my water, I don't think it contains any phosphates or silicates, looking at the water test that was done a year ago on our tap (well) water.

 

[MDDad]

I may throw an Oto in there. Would just one be enough for a 29G? I'm already fairly well stocked and don't want to overwhelm the biological filter. I've got 5 platies, 1 swordtail, and 6 serape tetras, along with one surviving ghost shrimp (I think the fish ate the others) and a little growing family of small snails that hitched a ride when I bought the hornwort (started with 3, now I have about 10).

 

[AJ_117]

I don't have any fake plants, mine are all live - Hornwort, a Marimo ball, a Java Fern, and an Anubius nana.


Wouldn't removing phosphates w/the Seachem stuff "starve" the live plants as well?


As far as my water, I don't think it contains any phosphates or silicates, looking at the water test that was done a year ago on our tap (well) water.

If its not from your tap water maybe look into the food/amount of food you give your fish, as some contain phosphates. I don't think the phosphate remover would affect plants but I'd look on seachem's website. I only suggested that because diatoms are usually caused by excess phosphates/silica

 

[MDDad]

I have one other concern: my hornwort plants are so covered in these diatoms, I can't seem to easily rub it off without damaging the hornwort, and I'm concerned that they will block enough light to significantly damage the growth of the plants.

 

[AJ_117]

I have one other concern: my hornwort plants are so covered in these diatoms, I can't seem to easily rub it off without damaging the hornwort, and I'm concerned that they will block enough light to significantly damage the growth of the plants.

Looking back on I remember that my 10g also has this problem a while back. I had redone it in April (completely restarted the tank) and for a few months I had diatoms everywhere. After a while they started to dissapear and all of my plants that were covered in them no longer have that problem. I belive with a combination of time and a strict water changing regiment they should go away on their own. My tank was covered in them but they did go away, I think the same thing will happen to you. Hope that helps