Just keep wiping them off. I know its a pain (I've had diatoms last up to 8 months) but it's not worth screwing up the cycle by adding fish, especially sensitive ones such as otos. They'll go away eventually.
Diatoms?
- Thread starter colinsk
- Start date
I found this link:
http://www.mbari.org/staff/conn/botany/diatoms/jennifer/intro.htm
Facinating little organism, a diatom. So getting rid of orthosilicic acid (Si(OH)4) could be a key to keeping them from growing.
from: Role of diatoms in regulating the ocean's silicon cycle by Andrew Yool
So perhaps my idea of using some plants to absorb the phosphate might have some merit.
http://www.mbari.org/staff/conn/botany/diatoms/jennifer/intro.htm
Facinating little organism, a diatom. So getting rid of orthosilicic acid (Si(OH)4) could be a key to keeping them from growing.
from: Role of diatoms in regulating the ocean's silicon cycle by Andrew Yool
So perhaps my idea of using some plants to absorb the phosphate might have some merit.
I wiped off the tank last night and vacuumed the gravel while changing 5 gallons (from 29 gallons) of water. Today my water parameters are:
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
0 Nitrates
The water from the gravel was quite brown. The diatoms are still going on strong. Is this where my nitrates are going? I have one moss ball but no other plates yet so I don't think any other plant could be consuming them. With 14 fish I am sure I am producing plenty of ammonia.
Last Saturday I did a large water change in order to move my tank to the other side of the room (90%). Since then I have fed twice a day. So is this the end of my cycle? For the last month I have seen low readings (but not zero) of all three parameters while I was increasing the stocking from the original 2 platies.
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
0 Nitrates
The water from the gravel was quite brown. The diatoms are still going on strong. Is this where my nitrates are going? I have one moss ball but no other plates yet so I don't think any other plant could be consuming them. With 14 fish I am sure I am producing plenty of ammonia.
Last Saturday I did a large water change in order to move my tank to the other side of the room (90%). Since then I have fed twice a day. So is this the end of my cycle? For the last month I have seen low readings (but not zero) of all three parameters while I was increasing the stocking from the original 2 platies.
I think by the same article, it mentions that new gravel contains silicon and that's the reason this happens only in newly established tanks. I've read said article before, very informative.
Since you did a fish-cycle, everytime you add more fish, your tank will enter a mini-cycle. Sometimes mini-cycles are not detectable, depending on the % of bio-load you've added. It's not recommended to add > 50% of a bio-load.
I tried to ramp up the feeding before I added fish. So as long as my params were staying stable I would start slightly over feeding. Then when I got the new fish I would not change the feeding at all and keep slowly ramping up. It worked OK to get stocked in two months. It was my first tank and I was just guessing but I culture yeast as a day job so I am pretty familiar with microbiology.
I am going to add 4 spotted cories and call this tank done. The next phase will be to see it run for the life of the fish. It is my daughter's tank and she is two so I am hoping by the time she starts dating and stops listening to me she still has this tank.
Now I get to start thinking of a tank for me. :evil_lol:
I am going to add 4 spotted cories and call this tank done. The next phase will be to see it run for the life of the fish. It is my daughter's tank and she is two so I am hoping by the time she starts dating and stops listening to me she still has this tank.
Now I get to start thinking of a tank for me. :evil_lol:
She's 2 and you're thinking of her dating already? You're right, you need your own tank to keep busy! :lol::evil_lol:
Make sure you take pictures of how your tank will start, journal!
Make sure you take pictures of how your tank will start, journal!
Update:
The entire tank was coated pretty heavily since I first posted. I had noticed that the water was not a clear as normal for a few days, maybe 5 days before they starte to coat the surfaces. Once the bloom took off it really took off. I decided it would be shorter if I let it deplete the nutrients so I only cleaned it off the front glass and vacuumed the gravel every few days.
Two days ago I noticed it's progress had slowed dramaticly overnight. So yesterday I cleaned all of the glass, vaccumed the gravel and rotated the dark gravel to the bottom. I did not clean the plastic plants as they only have another week while i wait for real plants. I also did not clean the rock or driftwood. I will clean the driftwood when I plant and the rock looks better with the diatoms on it so I am going to leave them. It was too light anyway.
All in all a pretty easy experience to get through. One thing that was quite interesting was all the nitrogens read 0 throughout the whole process. As soon as the bloom was over the Nitrates started climbing (to 5 now). Ammonia and Nitrites are still 0. I would venture to guess that it was a food source for them.
Thank you all for the help.
The entire tank was coated pretty heavily since I first posted. I had noticed that the water was not a clear as normal for a few days, maybe 5 days before they starte to coat the surfaces. Once the bloom took off it really took off. I decided it would be shorter if I let it deplete the nutrients so I only cleaned it off the front glass and vacuumed the gravel every few days.
Two days ago I noticed it's progress had slowed dramaticly overnight. So yesterday I cleaned all of the glass, vaccumed the gravel and rotated the dark gravel to the bottom. I did not clean the plastic plants as they only have another week while i wait for real plants. I also did not clean the rock or driftwood. I will clean the driftwood when I plant and the rock looks better with the diatoms on it so I am going to leave them. It was too light anyway.
All in all a pretty easy experience to get through. One thing that was quite interesting was all the nitrogens read 0 throughout the whole process. As soon as the bloom was over the Nitrates started climbing (to 5 now). Ammonia and Nitrites are still 0. I would venture to guess that it was a food source for them.
Thank you all for the help.
Update: Ok, last update. I am still waiting for my plants to arrive. In the meantime my platies have completely cleaned the diatoms from my plastic plants. LOL
The rock that looked better dark was cleaned to it's original beauty by my Zebra Nerite snails. I am not sure what cleaned the gravel but it is as bright as new.
The rock that looked better dark was cleaned to it's original beauty by my Zebra Nerite snails. I am not sure what cleaned the gravel but it is as bright as new.
