Diatom issues

[Jendiver09]

Help! I'm at the end of my rope! We have had major diatom outbreak for about 7 months now. We have tried everything recommended from frequent water changes, chemicals/additives, less food, less light time, suctioning off layer of sand, cleaning filters and tank and replaced the RO filters. Our tank is 75 gal, refugium, filter, skimmer and 2 wave makers. There's 1 tang, 1 chromis, 4 cardinals, 3 corals, live rock, 3 snails, 4 peppermint shrimp and some bristle worms. All parameters are good and always are. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[George9]

Have you tried Chemi Pure Elite? It would remove the silicates from the water so the diatoms starve off. It worked for me. If you haven't tried it yet, I think it's worth a shot.

[Jendiver09]

I see it's got mixed reviews but it's worth a try. Thank you

[mbssampley]

Chemipure elite is awesome. It worked on my tank. My parameters stay perfect. I have trouble trying to get any algae to grow. Trying to get coralline algae and haven't seen any yet but my tank is about 2.5 months old. I'm also using purigen with my chemipure elite. Let us know if you try it what you think.

[Jendiver09]

I will let you. I still haven't been able to pick some up yet and we are trying to figure out where to place it for it to work properly.

[Cichlid-dude]

Place it in an area with good flow in your sump. Put it in a filter sock so your drain water drains over it. That is if you have a sump, i dont know the details of your filtration.

[Jendiver09]

We bought the phosban reactor 150 and we are filling it with the chemi-pure elite with a pump running water through it. We will see if it works

[Cichlid-dude]

Cool, let us know the results.

[Jendiver09]

So far it is not working

[Jendiver09]

Now on top of the brown there's a thin layer of green algae growing for the first time.



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[Jendiver09]

So we wash the filters in the washing machine. No detergent or anything used. Just water. Does anyone think this could be the issue


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[DeaFkiD]

How long has you tank been up and running?


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[Jendiver09]

14 months


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[DeaFkiD]

I have heard that it can take up to 2 years to clear up I just finished my diatom issue and mine was 100 times worse then the pic I have seen of yours mine was a real dark brown and I would vacuum every two weeks and it took 7 months and mine is now finally not coming back after a month since my last vacuum best of luck I have learned patience is the key


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[Jendiver09]

Ours would be a lot worse but we clean it up every few days


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[Jendiver09]

The odd thing is it went away for a couple of months with a vacuum and 50% water change. Like I said it only lasted a month or two then came back. We repeated the same process as before without success this time. There's nothing new in the tank that could have brought it back.


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[George9]

This thread jinxed me! My tank is just about as old as yours and I am seeing diatoms as well AGAIN! Only on one side of the tank, and only on the sand. Weird how this happens. I've added another bag of chemi pure elite, hopefully it will help both of our cases.


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[Jendiver09]

The chemi pure elite didn't do anything for our tank. Let me know if it works on yours


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