Is this diatoms?

[Jendiver09]

We have been having issues with this stuff for months now. Not sure now that it's diatoms. Any other suggestions?


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[jrcordero4]

Yes it is. How old is the tank?


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[Jendiver09]

It's about 14 months. We have tried every chemical on the market to try and get rid of it. We do biweekly water changes. We have vacuumed the sand, we changed all the filters and membranes in our RO system. It just keeps coming back instantly. We got the chemi pure elite and it's actually gotten worse and now green algae is growing on top of the red.


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[Mr tap water]

Hi there
What are your phos and nitrate readings also how long do you leave your lights on for plus how much circulation do you have in your tank all these may tribute to to your problem


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[Jendiver09]

Lights are on for 8 hours. Every level is normal/none even phosphates. We have two wave makers. 75 gal tank


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[PB_Smith]

lighting has no effect/influence on diatoms, they utilize silica and it is the excess silica that is providing them with nutrients.
What type of sand/substrate did you use?

 

[Jendiver09]

I believe we used arag-alive


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[PB_Smith]

???
I would think after 14 months any silica issues would have dissipated.......I'm stumped

 

[Jendiver09]

We are too. The only thing I can think of is we wash the filters in the washing machine with no detergent. Could this be the issue? Should we then rinse with RO water afterwards?


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[PB_Smith]

We are too. The only thing I can think of is we wash the filters in the washing machine with no detergent. Could this be the issue? Should we then rinse with RO water afterwards?


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certainly couldn't hurt

 

[PB_Smith]

do you have a refugium and using any mud?
I ask because I have a small in-tank one with Fiji mud in it. Whenever it has gotten stirred up and some of the mud/silt gets into the main tank, I will often have a bloom of diatoms for about a week afterwards.

 

[Jendiver09]

Yes we have a refugium. Not sure if it's mud based or something else. It's grey and black granules


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[Jendiver09]

Yup it's mud


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[Jendiver09]

The mud is pretty compact but would nitrates make it past the filter?


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[Jendiver09]

I mean silica make it through the filter?


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[PB_Smith]

understand my thoughts about the mud are just grasping at straws.
Anyone else have any ideas/experience?

 

[jrcordero4]

Are you using any macro algae in your refugium?


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[Jendiver09]

This what we have.


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[jrcordero4]

How about a clean up crew?Some critters to stir up the sand?


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[Jendiver09]

We have 5 Caribbean peppermint shrimp. We had two emerald crabs but one died in feb after we lost electricity for a few days and the other just recently died but they don't touch that stuff and we have had the issue for 9 months continuously now.


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