Diatoms AGAIN!

[A.VOID]

OK, so I upgraded to Tek T5's in mid-August and got a huge Diatom bloom.

The Diatoms burned out after a week or two, but they've slowly been coming back in the last week. Now it's getting bad again.

I thought they basically burn up the Silica and die out?


Water parameters are perfect across the board >>>
Nitrates, Phosphates both 0 and I run Phosban.
I've done one or two 20% water changes, but TDS is ZERO on my RO/DI.

I've added maybe 2 new frags and I have coralline growing like mad with these lights.

Any thoughts? I assumed I started a new cycle with better lights, but I thought that was all done. A month later and here I am again.

 

[SoLiD]

Sometimes the addition of new live rock can cause a diatom outbreak. You could also try to shorten your light cycle.

-SoLiD

 

[A.VOID]

I did add some new live rock. These were completely covered Coraline pieces. I added like 2 1 lb balls.

 

[SoLiD]

That's enough to do it. Diatoms can spread very fast. Don't worry it will go away on its own.

Or you can run ozone through your skimmer and never worry about diatoms again. But that opens up another can of worms...

-SoLiD

 

[MarcoPolo]

for my info, what is the issue with running ozone (besides the benefits)?

 

[rogergolf66]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13338533#post13338533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SoLiD


Or you can run ozone through your skimmer and never worry about diatoms again. But that opens up another can of worms...

-SoLiD

what warms?

I know it can discolor acrylic and can be very bad if the ozone gets into your homes, but what else.

Roger

 

[SoLiD]

There are some people who tell you that it's too dangerous, but I've had nothing but sucess with it. Just make sure that you have an ORP controller to make sure that you don't over do it. It helps not to buy a ozonizer that is too big for your setup.

Here are some of the improvements that I've seen.

For one the water becomes crystal clear.

The light penatrates the water more easily helping my corals grow.

My skimmer works more efficiant by pulling out less water but it is a darker color. It's almost black.

You don't have to clean your glass as often.

Check wetwebmedia.com for more information. That site is awesome.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ozonefaqs.htm

 

[Sk8r]

You are using ro/di, right?