Diatom outbreak

[Bigdon]

Hi all

Tank has been cycling now for 7 weeks all levels are good ph 8.4 ammonia 0 trites 0 and trates now 0 got a pair of small clowns in now who seem really happy and some zoas but have now also got an outbreak of brown diatom. Any advice. Just leave it to go on its own or how do I remove it

Thanks

[Airgoose2222]

It's part of the cycle, but you can buy phosguard to rid them a little quicker. It absorbs phosphates and silicates from your tank.

[Bigdon]

How long will they take to go naturally

[Airgoose2222]

That's a variable question. Could be a week, could be months. I would read all you could about diatoms and determine if why you are doing is contributing to their growth or reducing it. There's no easy answer for you without knowing anything about your tank and maintenance routines.

[Bigdon]

Is there any natural way to remove it. I was told cerith snails

[melosu58]

Never use livestock to remove nuisance algae. Find the source and remove it. When you do your pwc the remove manually as much as you can.

[Jesse Greer]

I would leave it be. Since you added the fish, it probably cycled from the added ammonia. i would not buy anything or try to remove it. Should go away on its own with in a few weeks.

[Bigdon]

Would a clean up crew not sort it I read cerith snails like to eat it

[Scelzin1]

You have to do your research to find out what is causing the problem. Will throwing some
Snails on their help clean it up? Probably. But a better thing to do for the long term solution would be find out the cause. I had this problem when I set up my tank. I found out through researching diatoms that the main causes Are
1. Water quality
2. Water flow / movement in your tank
3. Too much lighting or light bulbs need to be replaced if they are too old.

I found out that 1. I was using tap water which was affecting my water quality and providing nutrients for the diatoms to live off of. 2 I didn't have any water pumps or powerheads in my tank so hardly any flow which led to dead spots. And there I was over feeding and leaving my lights on longer than 7 hours everyday

Find the cause and eliminate that!