Stupid Diatom bloom

rbell219

rbell219

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Nov 12, 2005
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5 weeks into the diatom bloom and it's no better. I won't go into details--you can read my other posts on it if you want. It's an established tank that was moved and the substrate was replaced with CaribSea "live" sand. It had a mix of sand and medium pea gravel before.
Everything still tests the same---
sal 1.023
ph 8.3
amm 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
phos 0
temp 74 (5am) - 76 (5pm)
calcium 420
I can't find a place to test silicates---gonna buy a test soon.

Now I've got spots of slime algae. Some purple, some red and some of those have strings that protrude and flow with the current. Turnover is 20-22 depending on what my head loss from the sump is.

I'm going to stop dosing with ReefComplete (no corals anyway--I just wanted coralines to grow). I added Phosguard to try and help with the silicates--too soon to tell anything one way or the other.

I'm bangin my head here---the tank looks horrible. Is there anything else I can do or test for?
 
Well, all your figures are looking really good, if it was me i would be just doing my best to syphon out the slime, and keep doing about 10% water changes every week, reduce food intake in to the tank, lessen your photo-period by a few hours..

What clean up crew do you have in the tank?

I know you say that your turn-over is 20-22, but it may be worth checking for any dead spots..

I know its only a few words from someone who is relativly new to the salt water world, but, the above is what i know to help combat slime algae..

Just my 2p worth....Hope it helps

Niko
 
I've got 4 turbo snails. They have a hard trap door and can survive the trigger fish. I don't want to even try any other cleaner--they'll just get eaten.
I do 30% every other week. It's given me better results. I used to do 10% every week, but I found it just kept things where they were--water wise. When I get everything in check I might go back to that.
I started with around 10x turnover---inched my way up to 20 specifically to eliminate dead spots. This diatom bloom has helped me in the sense that when I scrape the glass, I can see the flow patterns. It's nice and even throughout--no dead spots.
 
It should start to fade soon. Try what atnixon was telling you to do and give it another week or so. Do the diatoms come back as strong and as quickly?
 
Well--I posted this this morning. Wednesday evening I cleaned the glass and Thursday evening it was back like it has been. But this evening it's not worse, which is actually an improvement over the last 4 weeks or so. So maybe it's on the decline.

I'll say this--the last week, the water has been cloudy. But you can't tell unless you look through the tank from the side. From the front it looks normal---even when you look through the side, it's not like "cloudy water tank"---it's just hazy I guess, kind of thick looking. Could this be the diatoms dying off and free floating in the water column?

edit: Oh yeah---I thought about putting the polishing brick back in the sump for a few days to help clear the water? Good idea or bad? Also, should I run some carbon? I've heard mixed reviews about carbon in saltwater tanks--I stopped using it a few months ago with no ill effects - until now.
 
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Diatoms are usually caused by free silicates in your tank water. Carbon won't hurt anything unless you leave it in your filter for too long. You just upgraded your tank or switched out your sand bed right?
 
I switched out the sand bed back in August. The old tank had a leak and it's substrate had freakin pea gravel----FILLED with waste---so I just opted to put all new.
 
AHHHHHH-----it's finally going away. The water is crystal clear and every day there is less brown fuzz. When my turbos clean a piece of rock they reveal beautiful coraline algae, which has evidently continued to spread UNDER the hideous brown carpet that has covered everything for the past 6 weeks.

Thanks to everyone who helped and read my many posts on this problem. I can finally stop giving scientific explanations to everyone who comes over and asks, "what's wrong with that tank?" - lol
 
I'm glad to hear that . I'm very surprised that it's gone on as long as it has. I was afraid it was something other than diatoms glad to hear it's going away!
Cheers
Chris
 
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