diatoms?

[ClownieandBilly]

my newly cycled tank is now covered in brown algae (diatoms).this algae is covered with 100`s of air bubbles .can anyone explain this and tell me how long i can expect it to last.I use r/o water and phosphates are 0?

[Guy W]

Diatom blooms are common after a tank is cycled. Phosphate and Nitrates feed them, along with the lights being on too long. If your photo period is longer than 8 hours try to cut it back. If your nitrates are high do a water change.

It's likely you'll always have some small amounts of it unless you have critters that will eat it, such as snails and crabs.

Dosing your tank with Kalkwasser on a regular basis will help percipitate phosphates out of the system if that is causing your problem. However I had 0 phosphate readings on my tank and still had diatoms. Once I started using Kalk to buffer calcium the diatoms went away mostly.

Also old light bulbs will cause a bloom.

Guy

[kreblak]

Diatoms always spring up while I am cycling a tank. They will burn themselves out, though, provided that you keep your nitrates down with some water changes. Using RO water will help too, so keep using it. Turbos and astrea snails will work wonders for diatom blooms once your water parameters level off.