Greetings.
To begin with, my first question is in regard to those pesky diatoms -- I fought an outbreak of these in my last 60 gallon goldfish tank from nearly the first day to the last (it eventually cracked and flooded our house, but that's a totally different story for another day) and now it seems they're back again. In my current 60 gallon, which has been up and running for some time now, fully cycled and doing well, I am beginning to see signs of what appears to be brown diatoms on (fake) plant leaves and perhaps some decorations -- but I simply don't know what these are coming from...could it possibly be the exhausted carbon in my Aqueon HOB filter media? Is it the fact that I haven't kept on top of gravel vacuuming as stringently as I should? Right now, I'm doing a weekly 50% water change for the three fancy goldfish I keep in the 60 gallon, with a midweek "freshener" exchange of 15 gallons just for extra cleanliness; however, I haven't been vacuuming the gravel, quite honestly, as well as I should due to the fact that this new tank (a Marineland 60 gallon) is incredibly tall and deep, making getting to the bottom of it a real pain in the *** if you know what I mean (excuse my French, everyone). In our last setup, we believed that the diatoms were being "fed" by whatever crap was in pockets within the gravel (which was handled even MORE poorly in that tank, eventually leading to a bacterial infection that wiped out its inhabitants before the tank cracked) so that's why I am suspecting it MAY be the substrate yet again that's causing these things...
Does anyone have any insight as to what could be causing the diatoms on the plants? Is it remotely possible it's my exhausted carbon inside the filter media which is causing an outbreak of phosphates, thus causing the diatoms? The only reason the carbon has been left in the cartridges until it's exhausted is because I have been "reusing" the cartridges, much like the sponge media in an AquaClear, by removing them from the filter and dunking/rinsing them in removed tank water from time to time to sustain bacteria growth while getting rid of raw/loose debris...
My other inquiry has to do with "how it all works" with regard to the beneficial bacteria process and filtration/return flow to the tank -- I understand the bacteria is what's needed to keep the system inside the tank balanced and all that, but I often wondered how the bacteria "reaches" the tank water to keep it stable based on where it is...in other words, our bacteria, in most of our tanks, is residing in bio balls, BioMax pellets, sponges, cartridges, etc. but the water from our filters eventually spills back into the aquarium via an HOB's return flow (unless one is using a canister, of course). How does this bacteria "seed" the tank's "system" to keep it balanced when it's in our filters...does the bacteria, for lack of a better term, "ride" on the return flow from the filter to the tank, thus "populating" the aquarium space with bacteria? I just never understood, scientifically, how this all worked...
Thank you in advance, friends!
To begin with, my first question is in regard to those pesky diatoms -- I fought an outbreak of these in my last 60 gallon goldfish tank from nearly the first day to the last (it eventually cracked and flooded our house, but that's a totally different story for another day) and now it seems they're back again. In my current 60 gallon, which has been up and running for some time now, fully cycled and doing well, I am beginning to see signs of what appears to be brown diatoms on (fake) plant leaves and perhaps some decorations -- but I simply don't know what these are coming from...could it possibly be the exhausted carbon in my Aqueon HOB filter media? Is it the fact that I haven't kept on top of gravel vacuuming as stringently as I should? Right now, I'm doing a weekly 50% water change for the three fancy goldfish I keep in the 60 gallon, with a midweek "freshener" exchange of 15 gallons just for extra cleanliness; however, I haven't been vacuuming the gravel, quite honestly, as well as I should due to the fact that this new tank (a Marineland 60 gallon) is incredibly tall and deep, making getting to the bottom of it a real pain in the *** if you know what I mean (excuse my French, everyone). In our last setup, we believed that the diatoms were being "fed" by whatever crap was in pockets within the gravel (which was handled even MORE poorly in that tank, eventually leading to a bacterial infection that wiped out its inhabitants before the tank cracked) so that's why I am suspecting it MAY be the substrate yet again that's causing these things...
Does anyone have any insight as to what could be causing the diatoms on the plants? Is it remotely possible it's my exhausted carbon inside the filter media which is causing an outbreak of phosphates, thus causing the diatoms? The only reason the carbon has been left in the cartridges until it's exhausted is because I have been "reusing" the cartridges, much like the sponge media in an AquaClear, by removing them from the filter and dunking/rinsing them in removed tank water from time to time to sustain bacteria growth while getting rid of raw/loose debris...
My other inquiry has to do with "how it all works" with regard to the beneficial bacteria process and filtration/return flow to the tank -- I understand the bacteria is what's needed to keep the system inside the tank balanced and all that, but I often wondered how the bacteria "reaches" the tank water to keep it stable based on where it is...in other words, our bacteria, in most of our tanks, is residing in bio balls, BioMax pellets, sponges, cartridges, etc. but the water from our filters eventually spills back into the aquarium via an HOB's return flow (unless one is using a canister, of course). How does this bacteria "seed" the tank's "system" to keep it balanced when it's in our filters...does the bacteria, for lack of a better term, "ride" on the return flow from the filter to the tank, thus "populating" the aquarium space with bacteria? I just never understood, scientifically, how this all worked...
Thank you in advance, friends!
