diatoms!

[illal]

ive got diatoms on the sand bed for the past few months that wont go away! it really ****es me off cause everything else looks great and is doing fine,coraline spreading everywhere and then theres the brown sand :hammer: po4 is @ zero since i started using rowaphos, cut my lighting down to 6 hrs, and cut way back on feeding any other suggestions? please help im really sick of looking at brown sand

 

[Young Frankenstein]

can you vacuum the stuff out ? without disturbing the DSB ?

 

[coralfragger101]

PO4 being at 0 doesn't necessarily mean you are at 0. Your test kit can be inaccurate. You can be producing PO4 and diatoms/algaes consuming PO4 at about the same rate so as to not register on a test kit. You also didn't mention what your nitrate level is. This could be fuel for diatoms as well. Old bulbs and/or low flow can add in the proliferation of diatoms as well. Over feeding. Supplements you are using. Inferior salt mix.

Lots of differents areas to look at.

 

[Magnus6208]

do a 10% water change...turn your lights off for three days and then do another 10% water change. works wonders!!

 

[coralfragger101]

Water changes normally will work wonders. Unless of course your salt mix is the culprit.

 

[illal]

ive been doing 20% every week for the past month and before that it was every other week or so..... nitrates about 10 ppm n having a hard time getting them lower... bulbs are pretty old since i got them from some one used (reddawg) ill try to siphon the diatoms out tommorow when i do my normal water change

 

[illal]

btw only thing i dose is b-ionic every other day

 

[drpo21]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12149070#post12149070 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by illal
ive been doing 20% every week for the past month and before that it was every other week or so..... nitrates about 10 ppm n having a hard time getting them lower... bulbs are pretty old since i got them from some one used (reddawg) ill try to siphon the diatoms out tommorow when i do my normal water change

I've had the same problem and couldnt figure it out until someone told me that i was changing too much water out everyweek and was not allowing the tank to chill. once i started to do 10% water changes instead of 20% everyweek, things got better. this might help. gl

 

[illal]

i just did my WC and siphoned most of it out .... i dont kno why i didnt think about that myself ..... as of right now no brown sand! hopfully it stays that way if not ill just keep siphoning it out til it doesnt coome back.... i may try the extended lights out thing as well

 

[ReefWreak]

yea my sand has been dirty recently. I'm pretty sure it's due to a lack of water changes, and the fact that I have not replaced my GFO media yet. I'm gonna do both today with some NSW and Phosban.

 

[coralfragger101]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12149180#post12149180 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drpo21
I've had the same problem and couldnt figure it out until someone told me that i was changing too much water out everyweek and was not allowing the tank to chill. once i started to do 10% water changes instead of 20% everyweek, things got better. this might help. gl

I personally wouldn't buy into this one. There is nothing wrong with 20% water changes every week providing you are using a quality salt mix and the mix is aged and aerated.

 

[illal]

i was getting my water from bigals but recently switched to petsunlimited since its .19 cheaper per gallon

 

[drpo21]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12153798#post12153798 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralfragger101
I personally wouldn't buy into this one. There is nothing wrong with 20% water changes every week providing you are using a quality salt mix and the mix is aged and aerated.

i didnt think it would work either but it did, i was just letting him know what worked for me. i am also using nsw for my water changes.

 

[illal]

:update: the diatoms are gone! i siphoned it out last weekend and ther was still a little left which i siphoned mid week and they havnt come back! i picked up sleeper goby last night just incase to keep the sand stired up thanks for the suggestions!

 

[illal]

heres the new sleeper goby... he makes more of a mess than id like but sifts the hell outta some sand!

 

[sickyute]

u sure u need to dose bionic every other day?
that could be the cause as well.

 

[illal]

i followed the directions.... as long as i test my cal/alk regularly and dont exceed what either need to be i dont see it causing a problem.... and i also dont see how it would cause diatoms either way but than again i could be wrong

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

get some nassarius snails they are really good at sifting the sand bed

 

[coralfragger101]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12221474#post12221474 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by milsaltnewbie07
get some nassarius snails they are really good at sifting the sand bed

Nassarius Vibex - Yes

Nassarius Obsoleta - No (very cheap and lay eggs like crazy - really don't do that great of a job on your algae either)

 

[illal]

the sleeper goby sifts the sand so much that theres always little particles in the colum and makes it look almost cloudy.... any one else have that problem?
btw i already have nassuarus snails..prolly not enough but i got sum