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diatoms why!!!!

not sure why I have diatoms but I do. my tds is reading 1ppm I have the t-5s on about 12 hours a day and halides on about 8 hours a day. how does one get rid of these as everyday i have to clean them off things and there obviously pissing my zoas off as well as candy canes
 
Age of Tank ? You can cut back on the lighting . Theres a few threads on here and r/c about less light stimulating more growth . Also check all your parameters . Water change will help.
It could be part of a cycle if tank is new.
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Diatoms are caused by silicates. It is part of a new tank cycle but it could also be introduced. I find I have a big silicate problem with Red Sea Coral Pro salt. Are you sure it is diatoms? I've only seen diatoms on the sand/glass. Not usually something that bothers my corals. What does it look like?
 
I am calling it diatoms because of pictures I have seen of diatomas. My tank 90 is 1 year old but was an upgrade so its actually about 6 years old. My paramateres are all 0 for amm,nit, ph 8.1 cal 520 alk 10.4 temp 78.9-80.4. Now why i am calling this diatoms is its kind of like a stringy brown web that covers things. I have seen it in the sand and on theglass but also on the live rock as well. I wish I knew how to take good pictures of my tank but they always come out blurry. I moved around my powerheads last night to see if pointing them more direct onto the rock would help.
 

The_Codfather

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
MU8ST7ANG said:
I am calling it diatoms because of pictures I have seen of diatomas. My tank 90 is 1 year old but was an upgrade so its actually about 6 years old. My paramateres are all 0 for amm,nit, ph 8.1 cal 520 alk 10.4 temp 78.9-80.4. Now why i am calling this diatoms is its kind of like a stringy brown web that covers things. I have seen it in the sand and on theglass but also on the live rock as well. I wish I knew how to take good pictures of my tank but they always come out blurry. I moved around my powerheads last night to see if pointing them more direct onto the rock would help.
"stringy brown web" It could be Cyano bacteria
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Stringy brown, especially if it floats, bubbles and looks like snot would be dynoflagelletes. Also diatom induced. What salt do you use?
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Definitely dynos and definitely silicates fed. You need to eliminate the silicates from your system. To do that you need to figure out how you're introducing them. The more water changes you do, the more you'll feed the dynos.

Our dynos were being fed by red sea coral pro salt. Once we changed from that (95% water change) the problem went away instantaneously.

You need to identify your source. Are you introducing it with water changes? Is it in your source water (RO/DI)? Your change water (salt brand/batch)? Is it coming from your sand (cheap play sand)?
 
My ro/di filters are about 6 months old but they come up at 1ppm on tds. I rarely do water changes and my paramaters are always on point. I do feed rather excessive with rods food. Have you heard of reef crystals giving off silicates. I was going to do a water change today for the first time in about 7 weeks. Is my lighting on to much my bulbs are all newer. 2 10k 400w metal halides. and 2 tru blu t-5's. I was wrong t-5 are on about 15 hours a day and the metal alides are on about 7 hours. When i leave the lights off for a day it all goes away.
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Try cutting back to 12 and 5. The light may be contributing by feeding the algae. If you drop the light down it might not prosper quite so much and if it burns out more slowly you might not see the bloom you're seeing.

You may also be feeding too much Rod's food. Try cutting back a bit on that as well (1/2 of your current feeding). It doesn't sound like the water (since you're not even changing it) but rather something else you're introducing. The water change may help. Let me know if it makes it worse.
 
Will do thanks for the help. Wish i could take a damn non blury close up of the tank and also learn how to post pictures on here.
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
To take a non-blurry photo shoot straight on to the tank (lens surface parallel to the glass) and be far enough back so that you are beyond the minimum focus distance for your camera/lens. Your camera can only focus so close to the object. Any closer it will be blurry because you're too close for it to be able to focus. Any angle at all and you will get distortion from the tank glass.
 
Still there after the water change. I left the lights off the last 2 days and there gone but when i leave the light on it comes back alittle. what should i start testing for.
 
Humm Phyl

Definitely dynos and definitely silicates fed. You need to eliminate the silicates from your system.

Dino's /dynos do not feed on silica diatoms do :)

Reef Crystals usually Diatoms, but one really needs to see a pic. Diatoms can also get stringy with bubbles but do not have "snot" appearance usually. There is also brown Cyano that is stringy.

Dino's / Dinoflagellates

Fish027.jpg


IMG_0696.jpg
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
So then what do dinos feed on? And there must be a lot of it in RSCP salt!
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I skimmed and didn't find the short answer there. I definitely had an outbreak using RSCP salt. Went away after a 95% water change. What's your theory there, Boom?
 
Nobody knows Phyl the real reason or theory. But, it is obvious it is one of two and should not be much of task to figure which one but I go with #1

1. If you put seawater or any kind of water in glass and give it light sooner or latter their will be algae even if you sterilize it. It comes from the spores in the air which are loaded with all kinds of life. So, we could say RC is a better salt for early life support.

2. The salt mix has resting stage spores or "seed" of diatoms in the dry mix.
 
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