Diatoms Kicking My Butt

[Reggae Fish]

Rust colored diatoms are kicking my butt. I have 2- Tunze 6000's and 1- Tunze 6060 and Mag 18 for return.

Lights- MH (6 hours), VHO's (8 hours)

Have done 3 water changes in the last 4-6 weeks of 30%
TDS is about 5 but just changed.

HUGE cleanup crew.

Only feeding the tank once a day. I'm afraid I'm underfeeding.

Thoughts?

Tests are all in check. Nitrates is around 15-20ish

 

[geoxman]

pee in the tank?? jj

 

[frenchie]

i feed once every 3 days, have you moved anything around that could have caused a small cycle. sounds like you got plenty of flow, i only had problems with diatoms when cycling a new tank or not enough flow.

 

[Reggae Fish]

Have not changed anything. I've had the diatoms for awhile and figured it was NTS. Not going away though. I can't feed any less as I'm worried about my foxface.

 

[frenchie]

what kinds of food you feeding daily

 

[Reggae Fish]

Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Flakes.

I also run phosban and carbon through reactors and dose dt's

 

[frenchie]

dts phyto plankton or oyster eggs, for some reason i think when i used dt's plankton i had more problems with algae and cyano i started using that phytopure and quit having problems but i also use marine SAT once a month to help with algae problems, some flake foods contain ash which can help cause problems not sure if yours does, i mostly use frozen food mixing cycopeeze, brine shrimp and mysis shrimp,etc. and freeze in ro water to make a cuisine of different frozen foods. Cutting back on feedings and looking at what i feed since almost everything has phosphates in it has helped my tank but i don't have a foxface and not sure of there eating habits. I keep very few fish just enough tangs for algae control with hermits and snails, wrasse and pseodocromis for pest, and a clown fish and gobies for sand sifting. Only fish to take care of tank except clownfish is only ornamental fish.

 

[frenchie]

i use phosguard and switch between phosban also since one is iron oxide and other is aluminum oxide which binds phosphates even better than iron and run carbon in reactor with phosguard.

 

[breutus]

I put a vote for the DT's phyto being a possible issue, or just coincidence since it was the same in mine. Though I stopped using DT's for other reasons.

 

[dphins]

How old is your phosban? Maybe try rowaphos. I had it bad when my tank was new. It went away with time.

 

[DrBDC]

FWIW it is still some nts. I'm still going through some shifts in mine. The last couple weeks have been real nice to me though.

 

[Reggae Fish]

I'm hoping it's just NTS but's just VERY frustrating.

I should clarify. I use phosguard and change it very frequently since it leeches. I also am using Kent's Phytoplex rather than dt's as I could not find a store with DT's that was good.

Tank is in that 5-6 month range

 

[chadfarmer]

whats is your parameters?

 

[frenchie]

aluminum oxide can irritate corals, which is what happens if you do no rinse the media off real well before using in reactor. It does not leach anything back into water.

 

[Reggae Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11301112#post11301112 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chadfarmer
whats is your parameters?

Salinity- 1.026
Temp- 79.5-82.5
Calcium- 420
DKH- Can't find my test
Nitrates- 15-20ish
Nitrites-0
Ammonia-0
Phosphate- Testing currently

 

[chadfarmer]

do you have pics of the tank with the diatoms

 

[Reggae Fish]

I can tomm. I just don't know what to think? Is it possible to still have low flow in that many areas???

 

[chadfarmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11301695#post11301695 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reggae Fish
I can tomm. I just don't know what to think? Is it possible to still have low flow in that many areas???

i am thanking chem clean to get rid of it

 

[chadfarmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11301695#post11301695 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reggae Fish
I can tomm. I just don't know what to think? Is it possible to still have low flow in that many areas???

i am thanking chem clean to get rid of it


Diatoms do not respond to standard procedures for controlling algae because they thrive off of different elements in your water, primarily silicates.

 

[Chelsey]

I had diatoms and then I did twice weekly water changes of ~10% each time...now I just have algae