Diatoms in the sand? ID + solution plz

Amen to that! Mine came in yesterday and my Nassarius look like little race cars scooting around the tank!

I got a custom clean-up crew with hermit crabs and snails (plus he threw in more snails than I paid for) and shipping for less than what 5 hermit crabs and 6 astrea snails cost me at the LFS.

John is AWESOME!!!

 

I just ordered the Algae Free MJ Mod, hopefully I can clear up my dead spots. Right now I'm running 2-Koralia 1's but the ends of the tanks are still having algae blooms. Nothing out of control, it's just an ugly dead spot. Hopefully the new clean-up crew and the MJ Mod take care of it. Any suggestions, anyone...anyone, on PH placement in a 25G tall (it's like a double 15).

 

Diatoms are only visible when they die and that is what you are seeing their little brown skeletons as their little diatom souls are in diatom hell , Now these guys live off of and feed only on silicates , And if you keep seeing them like this then you either are adding silicates with your top off water or you used a silicate based sand ? or some Rocks loaded with silicates ? But as I said once they are gone from the first cycle then they reappear then you have a food source in there for them.. Snails won't eat them only turn the bodies over and under into the sand..

 

Thanks to all. Will re-evaluate my clean-up crew, I have ordered my Koralia-3's (two of them) and will investigate the silicate source. Thanks to all. You guys and gals are great. John.

 

Just to add to what has already been added, nassarius snails are carnivores and will not eat algae of any sort.

 

Besides the Nassarius snails, what other snails did you get? And how many/kind of hermits did you get?

 

100% agree with that. I had a 1200 and 900 MJ in my 75G, got the MOD for both, turned out to be way way too much. Took the 900 out and it's beautiful! Best investment in PH's.

 

I got 10 blue leg hermits, 25 dwarf cerith, 10 Florida cerith, 12 Nassarius Vibex

I have a 25G with a low bio-load (1 fish) and about 1/3 to 1/2 of my substrate is covered with live rock. I also have a 4 inch sand bed and 40 lbs of live rock.

The Nassarius mostly eat decaying matter from under the substrate. The ceriths are the algae monsters. My front corners looked like crap (I don't have diatoms...BTW) and within 24-48 hours they're almost clean. They'll have plenty of algae on the glass and rock to keep them fed...

I also have a few macroalgae frags. I love the look of a planted tank! I posted some pics this morning under the heading "macroalgae."