Pesky diatom removal

[GraceTheNoob]

Hi all,

My tank recently finished cycling (yay!) and I've now got 3 adorable little goldfish.
All would be perfect if it wasn't for the diatom colony slowly killing my plants

For context my tank has been fully cycled for about a week now. I know that high nitrate levels can cause a spike in diatoms, but I am now keeping my nitrate levels at 40ppm or lower for the health of the fishies.
The water in my area is very hard, I don't know whether that is a contributing factor.
I am also dosing my tank weekly with API PREVENT ALGAE, and the tank has good light thanks to the built-in lamp.

Other than vacuuming the gravel and wiping down the walls and the plants I don't really know what to do (I plan to vacuum weekly so I don't stress the fish out too much).

I've heard a product called PhosGuard might be useful?

Does anyone have any tips/experience?

Thanks!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Diatoms tend to clear up on their own. My newest tank saw diatoms 3 weeks after cycling and cleared up a couple of months after that. Its easily cleaned up manually.

Turning up the light intensity or light period might help promote green algae which will outcompete brown algae.

Phosguard removes silicates, which is something the diatoms are feeding on, but it also removes phosphates which your plants need. So thats a swings and roundabouts thing.

API prevent algae is just a phosphate remover, so i dont think that will have any effect on diatoms and might counter other measures you might take and cause nutrient issues with your plants.

I think all these products to remove this and that wont do as much as regular water changes will achieve. The silicates are probably from an excess in your substrate which will run down in due course.

 

[Joe_D]

This so- called "brown Algae" (diatoms) will go away on it own....eventually.
Regular water changes can help..


However, to speed things up, get a couple of" Nerite Snails" as they love this kind of Alga and will eat up...... clean your tank of it..

They also love green algae..

 

[King Fisher]

If your water has silicates in it naturally, the diatoms will never go away. Nerite snails do the trick as posted above.

 

[GraceTheNoob]

Thank you! I have got myself 2 nerite snails!

 

[Joe_D]

Great. .

BTW, as I understand it Nerite snails will not breed in a tank

Also, once they clean up most all of the algae you might have to feed them... like give them some algae wafer, est. However a a tank is rarely completely free of some kind of algea, particularly on the back glass.