diatom algae (brown)

Trelane is right

you dont need to do anything at all about Diatoms, they come, they go
lights dont make any difference, bacteria deals with the brown skeletons if snails dont

dont worry Tony, its perfectly normal and yours is not the worse ever case of Diatoms
and yours are not the exception to the rule - they will go away, just like they went away for everyone else that had them

Trelane says your fish ready - and that says it all - there is nothing out of the ordinary with your tank

Steve

 

About all you can do is get a good clean-up crew and clean the glass because once the diatoms are gone then you will probably have to deal with the green algae.Get enough snails to keep this in check, buy too many and when the algae is under control then some will die. Just explain to the guests your tank is just starting and going through it's phases and will take time to get "pretty". Just keep your parameters in check and watch it grow. Go slow and watch it grow,go fast and watch it crash...lol...think I just made up a good phrase.

 

So even if there is alot of brown algea on the rocks but minimal on the sand bed you still just leave it bee untill it turns green then throw a clean up crew in?

 

dont have to, but you certainly can do, Diatoms burn out when the silicate is all used up, with or without a clean up crew, they go away

my last set up - 60 gallon tank to house some stuff from my FOWLR when converting to reef set up, I waited until after the diatoms had compleetky gone before adding snails - didnt have to just decided to do it that way this time

Steve

 

cool thanx for all your help guys...looks like the diatom is starting to go bye bye, good thing i didnt get that algaefix i knew u guys were right...and i just took your advice and it worked out. I guess all those products on the market are somewhat phony, trying to get guys like me to waste my money....

thanx
-tony

 

So where is another update tony. With pictures. I know mine is totally off the rocks. sandbed still has some brown. I've heard if you just mix the sand a bit it will leave. Not sure on that though.

 

Also.. what is your water source? RO/DI hopefully and with newer filters. If the TDS starts to get high some of the silicates will make it through and prolong the die off and maybe cause them to come back a little bit. Probably wouldn't be a full outbreak like what you have but, if you ad silicates they sometimes come back a tad.

 

thats whati did , just mix it up everyday for about 3days and poof , gone. Nothing bad came of it.

 

Yeah I was thinking I could do that, but wasn't sure so I didn't even try. Thank You

 

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