brown algae(diatoms)

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plantman1028

plantman1028

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Dec 3, 2003
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I have a30g tank with lr and a few polyps.Ijust bought a CSL moonlite 130w pc.I have the lights on a timer..2hours actinic then 8 hours actinic+10kdaylight..then another 2 hours actinic.Finally both lights off and moonlite kicks in till am.
y problem is that ever since I put the new lights on the tank I have brown algea all over.I ahve blue leg and red leg hermits plus 14 turbo snails and another 16 nassarius snails.any info u guys can give me will be great.Hate this stuff..PLEASE HELP
 
Max

Max

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Jan 26, 2004
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plantman I'm no expert but, from what I know in order to have a diatom bloom . You have to have some source of silica in your tank in order to trigger your diatom bloom. how long has your tank been set up? A diatom bloom at first is normal yes you may need some more herbivores. What are your h2o parameters do you have phosphates in your water too many nutrients etc? I'd say it was caused by multiple things and we all fight with it to a lesser or greater extent. The snails and such will help and they are interesting critters.
Warm regards
Chris
 
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mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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Based on my experience, and from posts here and elsewhere, diatom blooms come, then they go. If it's still a problem in a few weeks, then it will be time to worry.

One thing that has helped me is to reduce light. The polyps will be fine with reduced light for a while. You might even cut back to just 65W during the day until the tank settles down. That may slow the growth enough for your herbivores to catch up a little.

The diatoms are probably just enjoying the feast of nutrients and light, without competition for the moment.
 
plantman1028

plantman1028

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Dec 3, 2003
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sewell,new jersey
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well,to answer some q's my water params are 0 ammonia-0 nitrites- 2ppm nitrates - ph is 8.4 and ca is at 450 ppm.I do weekly water changes of 5 gal.The tank is about 5 months old.I have never had a problem and my cycle went pretty fast,about 6 weeks.Guess stuff happens, but i'll try cuttin down to the 65w actinic for a while.hopefully my critters will catch up.By the way, i"m gettin the 15 gal package (30 lbs lr,15lbs ls,30 blue legs,7 turbos,1 serpent star,and 2 tiger tail cucumbers) from TBS on wednesday.Do u think this would help the problem.I"m thinkin live sand and more live rock would probably really kick butt in there.TBS live rock is so full of critters and such.There has got to be something im missin,hopefully it will come in the package.Thanks all
 
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