Aaaaahhhhhh! Diatoms! Help!

[fishfanatic06]

My tank has been setup about 2 weeks now. All of the corals, which are mostly sps, have awesome colors. The problem is the tank is covered with diatoms. It is all over the rocks and the sand and will not go away. It is very ugly. I run phosphate remover, carbon, and an ASM G1 skimmer with a mesh mod. I also run 2x150 10k halides for 12 hours a day. If I scrub the rock and stir the shallow sand bed, they go away but come back in a matter of hours. Please help me get rid of these things! I have never had them on my past tanks.
Thanks!

 

[xJake]

Diatoms are a normal phase in the starting of a new tank. They will go away on their own, and unfortunately you're going to have to live with it for now.

 

[demonsp]

SPS like more mature tanks and atleast a cycled tank. During the cycle you want to reduce lighting to reuce algea blooms and allow tank to adjust to light. Your tank need atleast 4 to 8 weeks to cycle before you add anything then start with some CUC. Look here for link to whats happening or what should be happening under normal conditions.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bionitrogencycle/a/aa073199.htm

 

[tbittner]

The Diatoms are consuming the silicates in the sand. All sand has silicates. Nothing you can do to get rid of them, except for removing all of the sand. In a couple weeks, they'll go away though.

Do you have another tank that you can put the corals in until your new tank cycles? SPS, in particular, most likely won't survive the maturation of a new tank.

 

[fishfanatic06]

Yeah, I hear that about sps all the time. They are growing really fast right now.

 

[Saltwater_Dog]

2 weeks is very fast to be putting anything in a tank.

 

[demonsp]

You hear they grow great while your tank is cycling? Chances are they will die but even if they dont the amount of food needed to feed them without any CUC and basic bio filtration established means your water quality will suffer and algea will always be previlent pnly getting worse.

Now if this isnt a joke thread and you care even a little then dont add anything else and whene they die off come back and do another thread like " i didnt cycle my tank and my acapora died ,did i do something wrong" or similar.
If you insist your on the right track i only ask you listen to any and all advice with an open mind from reefers who have Been There Done That rather then defend your current situation.

Fighting betta are cool.

 

[spider86]

12 hour photocycle is too long. You will have diatom/cyno for up too a few months before it goes away completely. The sps may be doing fine now, but as your water conditions change, so will the health of them. I know of some leathers are able to make it thru the cycle, but not sps. Hopefully there are no fish in it? Good Luck!

 

[black_majik]

Diatoms feed exculsively on silicate, either:

A) Your tank is finishing it's cycle

B) Your dosing something containing silicate

C) Your water source has elevated levels of silicate in it

Up to you to find which is the source....

My guess is the cycling process.

 

[cbrownfish]

12 hour photo period is similar to nature IMO. GFO (like phosban) will absorb silicates along with PO4.

Patience my friend, 2 weeks is to short a time to expect perfection!

 

[fishfanatic06]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12526629#post12526629 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by demonsp
You hear they grow great while your tank is cycling? Chances are they will die but even if they dont the amount of food needed to feed them without any CUC and basic bio filtration established means your water quality will suffer and algea will always be previlent pnly getting worse.

Now if this isnt a joke thread and you care even a little then dont add anything else and whene they die off come back and do another thread like " i didnt cycle my tank and my acapora died ,did i do something wrong" or similar.
If you insist your on the right track i only ask you listen to any and all advice with an open mind from reefers who have Been There Done That rather then defend your current situation.

Fighting betta are cool.

Chances are they will die?? I have been dosing stability for about a week now. I have added SPS corals to tanks cycling before and nothing negative happened. I also am using sand that is about 1 year old from a previously established tank. And, no I am not joking, my corals are growing. I am not a noob reefkeeper either. I have been keeping sps corals for almost three years now. This is just the first time I have had diatoms during a cycle. Maybe you shouldn't make assumptions like that.

BTW, what's an acapora?? lol

Aside from this thanks for the help guys! I will try cutting back the photoperiod. I have always used 20k bulbs in the past and ran a 12 hour photoperiod without any problems. The 10ks are double the par, so I will try reducing the light cycle to see how it helps.

 

[demonsp]

Cant you read.A asked you didnt defend your setup but rather take any free help here with an open mind. But the first thing you did was defend. Tell me what you want to hear and ill waste more time and type it.
The fact you dont know what an acopora is doesnt help your response at all.
I never said you where a newbie but more that you where mis informed. But now i think your an old reefer who had some results and now thinks he only needs some advice he lost in the back of his mind.
You want help its here if you dont then reply again like a know it all and things will only get worse.

 

[fishfanatic06]

That was sarcasm, you keep spelling acropora wrong.

 

[demonsp]

Weak key from gaming Sory.