cleaning diatoms?

[mickey]

my tank has been cycling for about 4 weeks now. today i took some water readings and they are at:
ammonia=0
nitrites=0
nitrates=20
salinity=1.024
temp=79

i've noticed that i'm starting to get some weird things on my glass.

1. little white bugs crawling around
2. little sac like things that seem attached to the glass but sway in the
water current
3. a little bit of greenish brown algae

from what i've been reading, i think it is diatoms, but i don't see any on my substrate. one rock is pretty much covered in brown hairy algae, but the other rocks don't seem affected...yet anyhow.

my substrate is a little dirty, but i'm not sure if it is diatoms or not, because when i added LR i never cleaned them before i put them in the tank. also, when i was arranging them, particles fell off the rock onto the sand.

can i clean the glass or should i just leave it alone? it's not really bad but you can tell that the glass doesn't look clear like it should.

any suggestions? and if i can clean the glass what should i use? TIA

 

[melosu58]

Did you see the tank cycle. Did ammonia go up and then nitrites and then ammonia and nitrites go to 0 with nitrates going up. If it did I would go ahead and do about a 40% PWC and clean glass. And when you take water out for PWC you can go ahead and draw out some of the algea.

 

[roka64]

1. Good! Probably beneficial "pods"
2. Maybe feather dusters or eggs. This is another good sign.
3. This does sound like diatoms, they come near the end of your cycle.
Mel gave some great advice. I believe you already saw the other spikes, so, you are almost there.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

And if your cycle is done, get a cleanup crew in there. I'd go mostly for snails at this point. Banded trochus snails devoured my diatoms in a matter of days.

 

[mickey]

thanks for the advice guys. what kind of eggs Roca? and how should i clean the glass? would one of those magnet things work?

 

[roka64]

I'm not sure what kind of eggs without a pic, they could be anything, or not even eggs at all. You can clean the glass with any kind of scraper. I used to use a paint scraper. I bought a Marine magnet glass cleaner. The Mag Float had too big of a back and would have not fit between the LR in some places of the tank. The Mag Floats are nice, since you don't have to reach in the tank when it comes apart. Mine rarely falls off and if it does, it tends to stick to the glass anyway.

 

[Guest]

Mag Floats are a blessing to the hobby in MO. Just have to plan the rockwork for a few inches room.

 

[roka64]

I bought a Marine magnetic cleaner and it actually fits between my heaters and intake tube of my filter.