General Tank Maintenance Questions

AfroCichlid said:
Erythromycin at 1/4 dose ( found in Maracyn ) will rid the tank of diatoms. From there you just have to stay on top of water changes. As far as cleaning rocks... soaking in a hydrogen peroxide solution ( or you can use Prime, just more expensive ), will kill most algaes/ diatoms. I don't normally use chemicals in my tanks, but I do use the erythromycin treatment for new setups.
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Interesting.. I have never heard of using EM to combat Brown algae aka diatom.
my understanding of diatoms is, once the silicates have been reduced they no longer can form their shells.

I do know it works on BGA as it is cyanobacteria. EM of course is an anti biotic and effective against BGA.
 
agreed star rider theres no need for meds to clear up diatoms. a few bn plecos or simply waiting it out will take care of it
 
Star_Rider said:
Interesting.. I have never heard of using EM to combat Brown algae aka diatom.
my understanding of diatoms is, once the silicates have been reduced they no longer can form their shells.

I do know it works on BGA as it is cyanobacteria. EM of course is an anti biotic and effective against BGA.
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Has always worked for me within 24 hours. After that regular water changes keep it at bay. I had never tried this method before reading about it in an AFI article. In planted tanks I don't use it. When I upgraded the 55 to a 75 I used it to great effect. I didn't want to add BN plecos to my Tanganyikan biotope, so after 2 weeks of brown I used it. It's an option, not a recommended technique.
 
I think it ill advised to use antibiotics at all when not absolutely necessary, so I would counsel against using them against brown algae, even if they do work. I wouldn't use them against blue greens either; there are other ways to combat cyanobacteria. Antibiotics should only be used to cure otherwise fatal bacterial diseases.
 
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