diatoms

[gillianandjoe]

Is there a way for me to rid my tank of the brown diatoms? I have a bunch of hermits in there, but it seems like the sand doesn't get stirred enough. Is that a possibilty? My levels are all good, and I only get diatoms on the sand up front where its bare. Thanks, Joe

 

[gillianandjoe]

Sorry for the double post, itchy trigger finger

 

[mbbuna]

how old is the tank?

do you use RO/DI?

how much flow do you have?

how much do you feed?

 

[gillianandjoe]

tank is about 6 mos
I didn't start with RO/DI, but now I use bottled distilled
Flow is pretty heavy, just a big HOB filter, two powerheads, and skimmer
I think I may not feed enough. All the advice says feed what they'll eat in a minute, twice a day. I feed what they'll eat in about ten seconds once a day. Tank has soft corals, hermits, snails, two brittle stars, one dottyback, and a clown. Light is actinic for twelve hours, and both for eight. (PC)

 

[mbbuna]

diatoms aren't rally much to worry about(unless the go crazy). what type of skimmer do you have and does it work well?

 

[cmondo]

Also I think fighting conch's do a good job of stirring up the substrate. The nassarus(sp) snails are good too, my friend calls them bionic snails, because everytime i feed mysid or anything they all come out of the sand and go nuts.

There are also several types of worms the borrow in the sand and take care of that stuff.

Chris

 

[kaptken]

well, It's always been my understanding that the limiting factor for controling diatoms is silicates in the water. diatoms need silicates to make their structure, and RO AND DI filters remove silcates from the make up water. you can also use filter media to remove them, like polypads, or feric oxide hydroxide, which will also remove the secondary needs of phosphates. and of course given the other two, nitrates will feed them too and make them grow.

but that's why many RO units stress they are high silicate rejection filters. to prevent diatom growth.

 

[gillianandjoe]

Thanks all, I've been using carbon in the aquaclear because my leather kept sloughing off gunk, but I think he's through with that for a while, maybe I'll add some phosphate pads instead. I have a couple of nassirus snails in there, I'm still a little foggy as to how much cleanup crew I need. In a 29 gal tank I have about 8 little blue hermits and about 5 snails. Anyone have recommendations?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[cmondo]

Right now I have a 30g breeder which is about the same volume as your tank. I haven't had any algae problems yet, knock on wood. The cleanup crew that I have consists of:

-12 turbo snails
-20 nassirus snails
-2 fighting conchs

also the stomatella do a great job, but I didn't really put them in there. I can post pictures of my tank if you would like.

Chris

 

[gillianandjoe]

Chris,

Thanks, I'd like to see that. I haven't seen many smaller reef pics on here, and I'm trying to find a way to give mine some height. I put a picture on my gallery if you have suggestions. The main problem is all my equipment is HOB.

Joe

 

[cmondo]

An easy way is to re position the rock. My tank is only 13" high so height isn't really a problem. I think tanks look nice with one "main" structure spanning to the top and others lower. I will post a pic of my tank tomorrow if I can get a hold of my friends camera. Also I will post one of my friends tank who has a 58 oceanic to show you how he set up his rock.

Another suggestion would be taking the rock off the back wall. From the picture it looks like you have it all rested against it.

Chris

 

[gillianandjoe]

Yeah, I guess I hadn't really thought about it. I do have the rock along the back wall, mainly so that I could mag scrape the glass. I was down at Dr Mac yesterday, and now I'm inspired to do more with the landscaping. I'm interested in how you built your rockwork, if you used supports, etc... Can't wait to see the pictures, thanks for your help.

Joe

 

[cmondo]

Joe,
I was going to borrow my friends camera, but he went home for the weekend. To Dover actually, and I am trying to find another camera before he gets back on sunday. So the pictures will be a bit delayed sorry about that.

Chris

 

[gillianandjoe]

I appreciate your advice here Chris, everyone is very helpful. Some of the regular threads in RC are pretty venomous. It's nice to hear from positive people. No problem on the pics, I look forward to seeing them whenever you can. Thanks.

 

[Shnabbles]

gillianandjoe i know you said you had 2 power heads, but i was wondering what your water turn over is?? is it 20-30 times turn over or is it 5-15 times turn over per hour?

I used to have the same problem till i bumped my turn over rate to 20+ times an hour.

 

[gillianandjoe]

I have literally no idea how many times it turns over per hour. I know my colt looks like it's taking a beating all day long. hehehe

 

[wds21921]

Water flow is a big deal when it comes to diatoms. Shnabbles and I have chatted about it off and on a few times and the flow is important.
Secondly, the RO/DI filtration will go a long way in preventing build up and then outbreaks of cyano as well.

Both used in tandem will virtually eliminate these problems. I had this issue for many years and finally broke down and purchased an RO/DI unit and it's made a world of difference.

If your planning on a successful reef tank I'd highly recommend those two thoughts for consideration. Some are fortunate and have gotten away without RO/DI, but having used it and seeing the difference, I'd never do with out it now.

 

[wds21921]

You can also try a diatom filter if you want? I have one that I use off and on and it actually does a pretty good job.
Diatomagic by Second Nature is pretty good and fairly inexpensive. I've had mine for over 10 years and it's always performed well. I normally use it for 48 hours changing the media (diatomaceous earth) at least once after 24 hours.