diatoms (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

Hi, I have a new (bought used) 55g tank about 2 weeks old. i used tap water first and got tons of diatom so did a 60% water change last saturday and 10% water change daily with ro/di but the brown diatoms are getting from bad to worse.

nh3/4/no2/no3-all 0
po4 - 0.10
ca - 430
sg 1.024
ph 8.02 morning -8.11 evening
alk 14 dkh
temp 77-78 F
mg - 1200
15 lbs cured live rock.
40 lbs dead rock.
lights run for 12-14 hrs. (2 55w ho 2 55w actinics .. i think ? )

i added phosban and carbon today hoping to lower my phosphate down. how long does it normally take for diatoms to go away?

 

[djreef]

Patience grasshoppa. Your setup is only 2 weeks old. Give it some time to break in.

DJ
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[Guest]

I don't think your tank has completely cycled. You don't necessarily need to run your lights just yet since there isn't anything in there needing light at this point.

Have you tested your water source??

You may also want to do larger water changes less frequently.

 

[Guest]

RO/DI phosphate?

Hmm .. maybe I should test the ro/di for phospate .. I guess I'll try that and turn my lights down a bit . I used old/borrowed media and added some bio spira the first day and few days after.. went through the whole nitrogen cycle already (i think) .. or do you think it takes longer? The brown stuff is truly annoying .. it's everywhere ...

 

[Guest]

The old media might not be helping either.

 

[Guest]

So .. assuming i can get the phosphate down..

Assuming I get all the variables in control .. (remove old media, lower lights , 0 po4, etc) how long would it take for the diatoms to go away?

 

[Guest]

Pretty quickly. Just give your tank time adjust. Your rock is probably still cycling, as well as your tank. DO NOT add anything else until this goes away.

 

[DonnieKim]

The brown diatoms are inevitable when cycling, you might as well turn the lights on and let it run it's course while you have nothing in there, then it will be gone when you are ready to add livestock or whatever!


Donnie