I have a 120g mixed reef, and have been dealing with diatoms for months now and they aren't going away. I increased flow, siphoned them out, and they keep coming back within a day or 2. I have a yellow tang, 2 clowns, 1 chromis, 1 cardinal, 1 melanarus wrasse, 1 firefish, 1 randalls goby, and a coral beauty. All my levels are fine, I have 2 Mp40's for flow, a bubble magus curve 7, and I'm running gfo and carbon. All coral looks happy as well as fish. I thought the diatoms may have been cyano, but I used chemiclean and it didn't do anything. I also thought it may be a different strain of Dino, which It might be. I did a 3 day black out but it didn't go 100% away. I am using RODI water, I have filters from brs, and they have been replaced a few months ago. The water is coming out at 0 TDS. I've been dealing with this algae for months and need some help really bad. The tank looks terrible with the algae all over everything. (The foxface and the kole tang in the pictures died from unknown causes a few days ago) I have been doing 30 gallon water changes every 2 weeks and have been siphoning it out, but it comes right back.
8 Month Old Tank, battling diatoms! Please Help!!!
- Thread starter Aiden Tolomay
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Yep, I have tons of trochus snails, they breed like crazy but don't touch it. I also have a few astreas but they don't bother either. Think it may be a strain of Dino then?
I'd like to see a more detailed picture to be able to id it.
I honestly wouldn't worry too much. It's classic ugly phase stuff.
Good cleanings ,WC , nutints levels etc, and I'm a fan of bottled bacterias like dr tims to help bolster the biofilter.
Edit , what foods are you feeding. Any aminos or coral foods?
I honestly wouldn't worry too much. It's classic ugly phase stuff.
Good cleanings ,WC , nutints levels etc, and I'm a fan of bottled bacterias like dr tims to help bolster the biofilter.
Edit , what foods are you feeding. Any aminos or coral foods?
Damian4883
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Tommy's Reef
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It took about 3 years to get diatoms to a controllable level for me, they'll go away. But the are the most abundant nuisance there is, you'll learn to live with them. I've noticed the more water changes u do sometimes the new salt water you put in, feeds them, but wene u skip your water changes it feeds them too lol, u have to find the balance between the 2. Or get the cleanest purest water possible lol. Also phosguard will kill them so fast its unreal but, every time i used it it hurts my corals! I use rows phos and a bunch!
Coral Hygiene
Active Member
If its dinos, you can get a uv sterilizer and they'll be gone before you know it. Or if that doesn't work, try using chemi clean (turn off your skimmer). Good luck!
I feed RODS original and lrs fish frenzy. I also feed ocean nutrition prime reef flakes and ocean nutrition formula 1 pellets
I'm using about 2 cups, the reccomended amount on BRS.
Jason mack
Monti madness
+1 for Dino's , I would take a small sample to a lFS which has a microscope to properly identify it .. then take the necessary actions
Try not feeding the Lrs for a week or two.
I could beat that in a week with uv. id hand siphon it all out, 100%
Id then install a uv I bought from a place with 30 days return if im not astounded, and that uv would be rated for twice the tank.
run it as long as you like, they'll be zapped and not come back./ if wow'ed, keep uv.
Id then install a uv I bought from a place with 30 days return if im not astounded, and that uv would be rated for twice the tank.
run it as long as you like, they'll be zapped and not come back./ if wow'ed, keep uv.
I siphoned it all out many times before, and it just comes back. I would be scared that I wouldn't be able to return the UV after it was used on the tank. Do you think they would let me return it?
those notes are always on the seller's page, email them ahead of time. it says 15% stocking fee on most.
The pre siphon was only meant to remove the majority biomass, its the UV that really does the work. since it wont literally pull the mats off the substrate, we have to make that tank visually free 100% of invader and the UV only works on the stragglers in the water from all the work we've done.
The sellers page is straightforward, you can also pre email the seller and simply ask if I open the item and hook it up and don't like it, am I able to send it back packaged very carefully? I bet they'll say in email whatever is in line w the page policy its a good system we've done it before. I have heard of a few keepers, and a few returners. Those who got the fix kept the item for a rainy day, you don't have to run them always though if you do, they're amazing preventers.
A UV harms nothing in your tank, they're only good not bad. water borne living animals they may zap don't like to be put through an impeller either...what we feed is what matters to the system, not some incidental suspended microbial life. nano reefs couldn't do 100% water changes if the incidentals mattered. Don't buy the one sized correctly for your tank, find a pond sterilizer, as big as you can $$ go and still mount it in some way creatively...it doesn't have to run forever, you'll arrest this stuff after a little bit.
keep hand siphoning it if some comes back while UV is running....if the first round doesn't fix that's ok, we're working from a full seeded condition here. I predict 90% chance of success within first mo, where you can take it offline and check, and it doesn't grow back.
The pre siphon was only meant to remove the majority biomass, its the UV that really does the work. since it wont literally pull the mats off the substrate, we have to make that tank visually free 100% of invader and the UV only works on the stragglers in the water from all the work we've done.
The sellers page is straightforward, you can also pre email the seller and simply ask if I open the item and hook it up and don't like it, am I able to send it back packaged very carefully? I bet they'll say in email whatever is in line w the page policy its a good system we've done it before. I have heard of a few keepers, and a few returners. Those who got the fix kept the item for a rainy day, you don't have to run them always though if you do, they're amazing preventers.
A UV harms nothing in your tank, they're only good not bad. water borne living animals they may zap don't like to be put through an impeller either...what we feed is what matters to the system, not some incidental suspended microbial life. nano reefs couldn't do 100% water changes if the incidentals mattered. Don't buy the one sized correctly for your tank, find a pond sterilizer, as big as you can $$ go and still mount it in some way creatively...it doesn't have to run forever, you'll arrest this stuff after a little bit.
keep hand siphoning it if some comes back while UV is running....if the first round doesn't fix that's ok, we're working from a full seeded condition here. I predict 90% chance of success within first mo, where you can take it offline and check, and it doesn't grow back.
I have microscopes at my school I can use.. how do I take a sample? Just take any water from the tank or how should I collect the algae in the water?
Can't see detail in this picture. I'd still bet it's cyano.Does this look the same? I believe it's diatoms can anyone confirm?
Jason mack
Monti madness
You Will need too take a small sample of the algae and water
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