Diatoms starting?

S

splix

New member
Is this the start of something good but ugly? haha
It literally started the 2 hours I was out running errands. Tiny brown spots all over the sand in all places of the tank.
I'm happy that it's happening but I want to keep it under control. Anything I can do/get to make sure it doesnt get out of hand?
I've already turned my lights down. Tomorrow I may only bring them to 25% power instead of the normal 75%.
I do have my GFO and carbon in my reactor running. It's not inline, it's bypass. Pulls from my skimmer compartment and dumps into my return compartment.

All my parameters are in check. I check most everything each day.
I used all RO/DI water to fill
salinity: 1.026
temp: 80
PH: 8.2
alk: 8 (I dosed a tiny bit after I noticed it went from 9, then 8.5, then 8 today)
ammonia: .1
nitrite: 1
nitrate: 0
calc: 460
mag: 1500

uMA90NCl.jpg
 
Last edited:
From my experience, the more control the longer they last. Diatoms are there as long as the silicates are there. Less diatoms controlled by light, less they eat the silicates. I would let them go with normal light levels and let them eat themselves out of food. usually takes two to three weeks.
 
Just let them go , leave everything running like you are used to. They are going to grow out their lifespan no matter what you do. If you dim your lights, you are probably prolonging the ugly mess. This is how it has worked for me. Others may have different experiences but it seems like you can't rush getting them to go away. They have a cycle to go through.
 
I'll +3 to the above. They are going to happen no matter what you do. It's all part of the process. You can run no lights for the next 6 months and be diatom free, and then on month 7 you start running the lights and voila you have diatoms. Just run everything as normal and let it run. As to already dosing for Alk, I would slow down on that. It's gonna take a bit for the system to establish itself. As long as everything stays within an acceptable range you are ok. Chasing numbers daily will be an impossible task. You really only gotta worry if things take a drastic change, say Ca is 450 one day, and 300 the next. Fighting decimal points is a losing battle. Just try and keep it as stable as you can within the acceptable range. If you want to start a dosing regime, keep track of your levels over a week or two, see what the flucuations are, and then figure out your daily dosage needs.
 
stingeragent said:
I'll +3 to the above. They are going to happen no matter what you do. It's all part of the process. You can run no lights for the next 6 months and be diatom free, and then on month 7 you start running the lights and voila you have diatoms. Just run everything as normal and let it run. As to already dosing for Alk, I would slow down on that. It's gonna take a bit for the system to establish itself. As long as everything stays within an acceptable range you are ok. Chasing numbers daily will be an impossible task. You really only gotta worry if things take a drastic change, say Ca is 450 one day, and 300 the next. Fighting decimal points is a losing battle. Just try and keep it as stable as you can within the acceptable range. If you want to start a dosing regime, keep track of your levels over a week or two, see what the flucuations are, and then figure out your daily dosage needs.
Click to expand...

I may be guilty of trying to force my water into the "best" range possible. I agree that I need to let it do it's thing.
 
Eh, it's nothing to feel guilty about. Keep that same mindset a year from now and you'll have a great tank. I too tested my water daily when first running, but daily soon turned into weekly, monthly , etc. Just don't sweat the algae at first. It's normal and unavoidable. A year from now, if you have algae issues, that's when the real battle begins. Once you get past the typical uglies, that's when you really need to be on point. Don't let bubble algae, GHA, grape caulerpa get out of control or it will run your tank and won't naturally go away like the early stuff does. Until then though just let it be.
 
When i set my tank up, i completely ignored it for like two or three months. It did its cycle and more. Was ready for fish after. Dont rush adding livestock. Too fast and you kill stuff. Sucks when you get that nice fish or coral and it dies on you days later. Saltwater tanks are not good without patience.
 
Hello,

Is this diatoms in my tank as well?

Should I get some clean up crew to help control it?
58f8cf866b7b84ba1135224e9f6e2e4d.jpg
 

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As long as your not adding their food source to top off water or water changes. Like everyone else said above, you'll add bits of algae over the years through frags and whatever. Sooner they eat themselves out of house and home the less problems you'll encounter later
 
splix said:
Is this the start of something good but ugly? haha
It literally started the 2 hours I was out running errands. Tiny brown spots all over the sand in all places of the tank.
I'm happy that it's happening but I want to keep it under control. Anything I can do/get to make sure it doesnt get out of hand?
I've already turned my lights down. Tomorrow I may only bring them to 25% power instead of the normal 75%.
I do have my GFO and carbon in my reactor running. It's not inline, it's bypass. Pulls from my skimmer compartment and dumps into my return compartment.

All my parameters are in check. I check most everything each day.
I used all RO/DI water to fill
salinity: 1.026
temp: 80
PH: 8.2
alk: 8 (I dosed a tiny bit after I noticed it went from 9, then 8.5, then 8 today)
ammonia: .1
nitrite: 1
nitrate: 0
calc: 460
mag: 1500

uMA90NCl.jpg
Click to expand...

Is this tank just now cycling? What is the reason that you are dosing anything if it's cycling? You're wasting money and time dosing anything at all. People dose things to replenish what is being sucked out of the water by eating it. Hard corals like SPS and LPS consume Cal, Mag and kalk from your water, for this reason people dose to bring it up. If you have only soft corals and a few LPS then you can just do water changes to replenish what they consume because it's very little.

Sure you can dose anything you want and as much as you want. But there is no need to do so at this time. You don't even have to do a water change until after the tank is cycled and ammonia and nitrites are 0. There is also no need for you to run carbon. Also let your lights do their normal cycle as others have said you are going to get diatoms and then you will get a GHA bloom it's all part of a new tank going through the cycles. It is going to happen so let it happen and keep your money in your pocket until you need to dose anything. Right now all you have to do is watch the diatoms bloom LOL
 
yeah that was my learning experiece these past couple days. I thought I was supposed to help dose up the water to acceptable levels since my calcium was at 320, mag was around 1080.
Ammonia has been hovering around .1-.2. Nitrite at 1.
 
Now I have hijacked the thread sorry . The feather duster looking growths in the second series of pictures.
 
Do diatomes have bubbles, or is this now dinoflagellates?

Can i add more clean up crew to take care of it? I dont have any sand cleaners in my minimal current crew (hermits, emerald)

Did my best to get a pic. you can see small bubbles sitting in the sand. It's all over the sand but not on any rock.
YWDZrfpl.jpg
 
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