Brown Diatoms All Over Sand

[Icewing726]

So I had a MASSIVE brown diatom bloom that encrusted my entire sand bed. The turbos I added were able to survive my wrasse's but they don't clean the sand. I've turned on the skimmer and pulled the silicates out with phosguard (phosphates were testing at 0 from supply and aquarium) and now the brown is much duller in there and disappearing from the sand as well.

I've tried adding cerith snails and conch's but I'm not seeing anything I can immediately point to as improvement.

Should I stir the sand/rake it to get the pure white on top again and let the brown die below?

Is vacuuming going to be effective?

Will it just die back on it's own restoring the white sand bed?

Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 0-10
Phosphate is 0
Alk is around 12
Calcium is around 340ish
PH is 8.2-8.4
Salinity is 1.026

 

[Drewbe147]

Diatoms use the silicates in the water to reproduce and will deplete the silicates in the water...basically it will run its course and die back out so while not pretty it’s somewhat of a “natural” silicate remover. Also give the conchs and ceriths time. When you do water changes make sure your rodi is testing 0 if you have a unit. Also you can add a stage on and put “silicabuster” in that stage to help polish off any silicates getting through.

 

[mcgyvr]

Only thing you need to do is work on improving your patience....

 

[Icewing726]

Only thing you need to do is work on improving your patience....

No I get it, I keep asking. Only reason I'm asking is I'm going arm pit deep in this thing today and figured I'd do it all if necessary. It seems like it's dieing back but I wasnt sure if it would ever go back to white sand if I let it die on top.

 

[Icewing726]

Diatoms use the silicates in the water to reproduce and will deplete the silicates in the water...basically it will run its course and die back out so while not pretty it's somewhat of a "œnatural" silicate remover. Also give the conchs and ceriths time. When you do water changes make sure your rodi is testing 0 if you have a unit. Also you can add a stage on and put "œsilicabuster" in that stage to help polish off any silicates getting through.

I would love to give the conch's and ceriths time but my wrasse's won't. That's why I'm wondering if I should do a manual raking today and over the next week and just let the dieing diatoms be food for whatever lives in the sand. I will look into the silicate buster idea though.

 

[Drewbe147]

I mean you can suspend it to the water column to get some to head down to the sump but leaving it be is fine due to when it’s out of silicates it will disappear

 

[j.falk]

Only thing you need to do is work on improving your patience....

If you could only bottle it and sell it...you'd be rich! Nobody has any patience anymore...

 

[cc2005pd]

I just got done fighting the same thing. took several weeks of looking at some brown sand and a set of new filters for the RODI and things are now just starting to settle back to normal. My old filters were reading 14 on the TDS meter and I thought I would be ok until I switched over to my new tank. so if you are testing your RODI....0 means 0.

add this to list of errors I have made 4 years in the hobby.

 

[juanfdezdc]

It might be the lighting, reduce the lighting. I reduced the lighting hours in my tank and it helped me a lot reducing the algae

 

[FirstContact]

I would try vacuuming the diatoms out and stir the sand bed on a regular/semi-regular basis. Also, if you have a budget, UV or ozone would rectify that problem all by itself.

 

[dtapke]

add flow, keep it off the sand and in the water column so your filtration can get to it. easiest and cheapest way i've found.

 

[OffRoad322]

Water change might help, along with not overfeeding the fish. I am struggling not to overfeed myself.