Diatom Problem

Stefanie

Stefanie

AC Members
Jan 12, 2005
119
0
16
Maryland
I have a newly set up 12G tank that I fishlessly cylcled. It finished about three weeks ago. Already towards the end of the clcle and ever since I am struggling with diatoms. There is brown powdry stuff everywhere: the plants, the glass, ...
My waterparameters are fine, I believe: No Ammonia, no Nitrites, and about 5-10 ppm Nitrates (I start with about 5 ppm from tap water).
I do a 50% water change once a week.
So far I have tried increasing the light by one hour a day (13 hours now, timer), manually removing it from the glass, adding ghost shrimp.... It always comes back.
Any other tips how to deal with this situation? The fish don't seem to mind it, and as far as I know, diatoms are not "bad" just unsightly, but I really don't like them...
Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Diatoms in freshwater tanks should not be a major issue, they should disappear naturally after a few weeks. Dont increase the number of hours the lights are on, this will probably make things worse.

In the unlikely event of the problem not going away................
Put some silica remover in your filter, ROWAPHOS should do the trick, if there is little or no silica the diatoms can't form their shells (ie the brownish dust). Check your tap water to see if its rich in silica if it is you may have to go down the Reverse Osmosis route to getting rid of the problem.
 
Agreed, clean them off then do your weekly 50% water change. Or do it twice per week. In a month or so you'll suddenly notice that there're almost none left.

If they're part of your stocking plan some Oto's will clean it up in no time. But if they're not, then it's not worth it just to deal with some diatoms.
 
Patience is probably the key. When I first got diatoms, they drove me crazy. I cleaned everything off just before every water change and they still seemed to show up about 5 minutes later. After awhile, I didn't see any for several days. Now, I have to really search to find any. I'm hoping they will soon be gone forever.
 
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