Now I know what Diatoms look like.

[locorosa]

So, after keeping fake plants with my Golds, my Tropical tank with light planting has Diatoms. Great...welcome to the club.

I am thinking that I should cut back on the lighting as I am leaving it on 12-14 hours a day (low level of light btw), using Flourish Excel 2-3x a week and I have 3 bumblebee cats and 3 Panda Cories in the tank. The water perims are perfect and the temp is 82*.

I know they are not algae eaters so I was thinking I'd throw some Mystery snails in there and clean the plants by hand (use my fingers to rub the stuff off) as well as cut back on lighting duration. Does this sound like a good plan?

 

[neilanh]

Why not some ottos? I hear they love that stuff

 

[rich311k]

Diatoms are not caused by light. They feed on silicates. They will go away on their own once the food source is gone.

I would keep your lighting period under 12 hours to help prevent other algae, which are much harder to deal with.