Diatoms, 2 months now

just get a different color temp of your current bulbs. Like 12-14K. This will also look less yellow. Also your salinity is fine i think. for PH you could add a bit of buffer to your top off water. Continue you water changes with RO water.

 

how many hours a day are you running the lights???

 

about 10hrs right now.

 

When I had diatoms, I found that cutting the lights back to 5hrs a day helped alot-then I put them back to 12 and the diatoms came back immediately. went back to 5, and after they went away, I slowly increased the light time until I got back to 12 again--seemed to work for me. You will still have to wait them out, I know it is frustrating, but they will pass. Get used to it, your tank will go through many different stages. Pretty ones and ugly ones. I have gotten diatoms every time I have added live rock. But they always go away.

 

Ya ill cut them back. I think the RO water will help alot, just need some more water changes, and get some better lights. Thanks all for the quick replies and a ton of good info. 8)

 

Always welcome here

 

A good Clean Up Crew will help with Algae and also check your phosphate level .....

welcome aboard !!

 

Ok have done 2 12% water changes and it has slowed down, but still have some new growth. I have fake (plastic) coral decorations and was wondering if there is a chance that they could be leeching silicates? I'm also gonna get some phosban media for my filter.

Oh ya as soon as I get paid I'm getting some T5HO 10,000k bulbs, hope this helps. Also I have just the regular florescent fixture, the new bulbs are 18" with the 2 prongs on the end. Look the same as mine now, so will the T5HO's work?

 

What's probably feeding your diatom bloom is the silicates in your water. This is probably indicative of you not having RO at this point. As an after effect of a tank cycling, you will usually get a diatom bloom for a week or so but that really should go away as things begin to settle. My vote is the silicate content in your water is feeding the bloom.

 

You need to make sure the wattages match.