Diatom EVERYWHERE

aaren92

New member
Hey guys,

I had a couple questions to ask. I started off with a 30 gallon FOWLR, now I have those fish in my 100 gallon tank, and the 30 gallon is a reef tank.

The 100 gallon was set up and cycled and ready for fish 4 months ago. However....the diatom will not go away :deadhorse1:

Salinity - 1.023
pH - 8.2
Nitrates/Ammonia/Nitrite - all zero

the only fish I have in the setup are a dogface puffer, yellow tang, 2 clowns, and a diamond goby. about 8 turbo snails that suck at cleaning anything up, and a frogspawn coral thats doing awesome.

Problem is, there is diatom everywhere. It won't go away. I do biweekly water changes of 15%. Any suggestions/help of how to make diatom disappear??

OH and I should add, overnight it will go away. Then, within 10 minutes of my lights being on in the morning, its back again -- EVERYWHERE!!!:mad2:
 
It wont hurt either... Leave lights off for a two days... They will just think hurricane Itsawfullydark came in and blocked out the sun.
 
how are your phosphates?

That is actually a very good question.

Don't call me a complete idiot (I've never had a problem before and just barely started testing my own water..used to take it to my LFS)

Is there a specific test for Phosphates like there is the Nitrites, etc?
 
Using RO/DI water or tap water using a dechlornator?

Unfortunately using Prime as a dechlorinator until I can afford RO/DI.
Does this affect things too badly? I've really never had a problem until now.

Also, will my frogspawn be alright for a few days with no light?
 
Nevermind I can buy the Reef Master Test kit from API which has a phosphate test in it. So far I only bought the Saltwater Master Kit.
 
Yeah, high phosphates are causing your diatom bloom. Phosphates are a plenty in tap water, they are also being produced regularly in your tank just like nitrates.

Some GFO in a reactor will do wonders. But GFO isn't cheap. You will probably still need it even with ro/di filters, just not as much.
 
As for the testkit, I certainly recommend hanna phosphate checker, it's a bit more expensive but far more accurate than API and much easier to use. Phosphate and Alkalinity are the two checkers hanna did best.
 
Frogspawn... -- That is why I made mention to "Hurricane Itsawfullydark" In the wild hurricanes come up and can make it dark for a day or two. Most likely the third day gets some filtered light though. I am not a frogspwan person but it was shipped/transported in a dark box/plane for at least a day.

The darkness will help reduce the diatoms... but a CUC will help get rid of them.

Tapwater (city) has the possibility of additional phospates due to chlornation and addition of chemicals to make us zombies. So a RO/DI would help get rid of these items.

Even if you got a 5gal/dal RO/DI at a cheaper rate you could make a few days prior for any schedules water changes. YES... an emergency 25-50% water change would be low until you could make it up in a few days.

Some people make up a trashcan full and let it sit and just use it for their water changes but have it ready for larger unexpected water changes.
 
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Question for you... I know they make RO/DI systems u attach to your current water piping system. At Home Depot near me they are only about 30 -50 dollars. Does this provide the same quality of RO/DI water?
 
I am not a RO/DI expert... There are a couple of REALLY GOOD threads, even here in the new to hobby section. Read through a few because some of those people have the same questions.

From what I remember though, yes, just not in the higher volume. But if you think about it... 3-5 gal a day output is good for a slow flow ATO or fill a bucket. Yes a 50gal a day is better but depends on how often you use it. I agree that you get what you paid for though and a better $$$ one has better filters and less maintenance.
 
Those are just reverse osmosis units, the DI part is missing. Incidentally, DI is a very important filtration component for marine aquarium water. I believe the cheapest true RO/DI unit at home depot runs for ~$160 and is similar to what you can get on ebay for ~$100.
 
You could also buy just the RO unit. and when funds are available(if your like me...) buy the di single canister from brs. Another thing you can do is go to the local .25$ a gallon water dispensors, they put out RO water. Depending on where you live I have heard that DI is not always necessary. Because you are having problems with phosphate and probably don't want to spend a lot of money, look into running chaeto or some other macro algea. Its cheap, easy to set up(if you have a sump) and can pull a lot of excess nutrient out of your water. Also they have filter pads you can put in your tank to pull out nutrients. The pads are temporary solutions though. A carbon/gfo reactor from brs is one of the best things I have added to my tank(for clean water that is)
 
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