Diatom?

Came home from work yesterday to a brown dust all over my returns and some of the sand bed turned a pretty crappy lookin brown.

Used quite a bit of plastic in my DIY sump....

Safe to assume its Diatom bloom? Correct that it goes away on its own as the silicates die off?

I read something in the ultimate algea thread about pods thriving on it? Is there some way to use it to my ultimate advantage?

 

Sounds like diatoms to me. Everytime I add a new powerhead or anything new, I get a small burst of them. Didn't know pods eat them but that's kind of cool if its true. I have diatoms in my fuge and I just let it grow.

 

It will be gone before u know it....i had crazy diatom bloom...when i setup my tank...its only matter of time before they are gone....but dont be surprised if they come back. Are u useing tap or ro/di, that also has alot to do with it. I used tap in the beginning...now i use ro/di and rarely see and diatom bloom. In the mean time pick up a bag of Chemi-pure ELITE. It will help with your silicates/phoshate problem. I Swear by this stuff ; throw it in your sump.

 

Thanks Tony-

About 70 of my 100 gallons is RO. I was in a jam so when i filled it up i put about 30 gallons of treated tap in.

Switching back to RO this weekend...

 

Well thats the problem ...Thats what tap does. Wouldnt worry to much about it should be gone by the next Water change u do. IF not use a little 3/8 tubing and create a siphon and just suck it up where ever u see it. GL