Help? Diatom explosion + hair algae

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mountain_webste

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May 2, 2007
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Looking for some guidance on a diatom explosion and some hair algae growth on java fern. I’ll comb the archives as I know there’s been lots of Q & A on these topics before. But, I’m going out of town for four days so I’m hoping for some quick feedback to determine if I need to run home at lunch and tend to my tank. Will my tank be OK if I leave it for the long weekend? Fortunately, the fish seem fine.

Last week I converted my 46G to real plants and upgraded the lighting. I’ve always had diatom problems but they were manageable and I attributed it to inadequate lighting (I’ve had the tank running for 2+ years and it was used when I got it so I ruled out new tank/silicates as the cause). I’m now running 96W light on a timer for 14hrs/day. There had been some diatoms earlier in the week, but I attributed it to leftovers from before I converted to live plants. I come home yesterday it seems like there was a diatom explosion in my tank, covering large areas of tank walls, on the gravel, on slate and, all over the plants. It never grew that fast before. Any thought on the cause and what I can do to get rid of the problem? Will diatoms covering the plants kill them – i.e. they are brown, will this inhibit photosynthesis? I have anubias, some crypts, java fern and java moss.

I also noticed what I believe to be hair algae on a few of my java fern leaves as well. I tried scraping them off with my fingers but didn’t have much luck. Is this going to take over while I’m gone? I’ve dosed the tank with plant food twice; the day I added the plants and three days later (last Sunday); I added the recommended dose and the timing was per the directions. I did not add any last night hoping the plants would out-compete the algae for nutrients.

Sorry to ramble, but hoping details will help answer my questions. Oh, and water params are 0/0/~20, ph of 7. I don’t have a hardness test kit so don’t know any of that info, sorry.

Thank in advance.
 
Well, I feel a little better about my algae problem, as this pic best matches what I saw on my java fern; "fuzz algae" not hair and per the link on the sticky not a "bad" algae.

fuzz.jpg


I've no algae eating fish in the tank at the moment. I guess I'll need to get something, though it'll be at least a month before I could add them as I'd want to QT them first.
 
Diatom blooms usually work themselves out after a few days.

I recently set up a 300 gallon and had a massive diatom bloom, with diatomaceous muck piled 1/2" deep on all surfaces. I just periodically brushed it off of the plants and other surfaces to suspend it in the water column, and packed the overflow with polyfiber to catch the muck; I had to take the poly out and rinse it every few hours. The diatoms were gone after 10 days. The fatheads and golden shiners I put in the tank to start the cycle picked at the diatoms a bit, but not enough to do much good.

Diatoms or debris covering your plants' leaves will interfere with photosynthesis, so knock or rub the stuff of the plants periodically.

Good luck!
 
I would be willing to bet if you did a 3 day blackout over the long weekend, that fuzz algae will be gone....
 
not much you can do about diatoms.....I dunno if a blackout will help them.

I know otos eat it up like no tomorrow.
 
mountain_webste said:
Looking for some guidance on a diatom explosion and some hair algae growth on java fern. I’ll comb the archives as I know there’s been lots of Q & A on these topics before. But, I’m going out of town for four days so I’m hoping for some quick feedback to determine if I need to run home at lunch and tend to my tank. Will my tank be OK if I leave it for the long weekend? Fortunately, the fish seem fine.

Last week I converted my 46G to real plants and upgraded the lighting. I’ve always had diatom problems but they were manageable and I attributed it to inadequate lighting (I’ve had the tank running for 2+ years and it was used when I got it so I ruled out new tank/silicates as the cause). I’m now running 96W light on a timer for 14hrs/day. There had been some diatoms earlier in the week, but I attributed it to leftovers from before I converted to live plants. I come home yesterday it seems like there was a diatom explosion in my tank, covering large areas of tank walls, on the gravel, on slate and, all over the plants. It never grew that fast before. Any thought on the cause and what I can do to get rid of the problem? Will diatoms covering the plants kill them – i.e. they are brown, will this inhibit photosynthesis? I have anubias, some crypts, java fern and java moss.

I also noticed what I believe to be hair algae on a few of my java fern leaves as well. I tried scraping them off with my fingers but didn’t have much luck. Is this going to take over while I’m gone? I’ve dosed the tank with plant food twice; the day I added the plants and three days later (last Sunday); I added the recommended dose and the timing was per the directions. I did not add any last night hoping the plants would out-compete the algae for nutrients.

Sorry to ramble, but hoping details will help answer my questions. Oh, and water params are 0/0/~20, ph of 7. I don’t have a hardness test kit so don’t know any of that info, sorry.

Thank in advance.
Click to expand...

I would suggest a quick 50% water change. Reduce lighting to 8 hours while your gone.
Yes the diatoms will eventually starve out the plants if left untreated and the core cause is not corrected.
Silicates can come from any number of sources!
 
247Plants said:
not much you can do about diatoms.....I dunno if a blackout will help them.

I know otos eat it up like no tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Ahh so otos do eat them. Needed to know that thanks
 
Otos will eat the diatoms BUT it is never a good idea to buy a fish to eat the diatoms. You need to get to the root of the problem and fix that or the problem will return. Otos are very sensitive to water quality and can be very picky about their food. Some will only eat the diatoms and once it is cleaned up by them, they will essentially starve to death since they will not eat any of the prepared foods that are offered.Some will but most will not.

Marinemom
 
What can I feed them? :) I have algae wafers so far and thats pretty much it
 
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