Cleaning my glass every hour. Ugh!

[raklassen]

Hello all. I know this topic has been discussed, and I’ve read a few threads on it, but I was hoping to have a few specific questions answered.

First off, my tank has been up and running for less than 6 months, so it’s still very new and I know this is common for new tanks. I have a brownish, dusty haze on my glass, it comes off very easily with my magnet cleaner, but literally minutes later you can see it start to form again and within an hour my glass is a haze again.

This is a Innovative Marine 30 long 30 gallon aio. Nitrates are 5 ppm and phosphates are at .04. I have a basic clean up crew of quite a few dwarf cerith, florida cerith, and a few other similar inverts. They are all over the glass and trying their best, but can only do so much.

First question: I realize from reading around that this is common for new tanks, but it’s still annoying and unsightly. Is there anything I can do to get ahead of this besides just waiting?

Second question: I turned my lights off today and plan on going about 3 days “lights off” to see if that helps. Right now I just have 3 mushroom frags, 2 Zoa frags, and a clove frag. Will “lights off” for 3 days wreck those soft frags?

Third question: right now I have a fleece filter sock, but I do have a UV light to replace it. Is it too soon to consider a UV light in such a young tank?

Fourth question: what are some other things I should look into to get this stuff gone?

Thanks all for the help. I don’t mind being patient and waiting for this stuff to die off eventually, but I worry about the health of my fish and corals. Everyone seems to be doing great so far, but I don’t want to risk anything

 

[DinoMagnet]

Sounds like it could be dinos. What are you using for flow?

 

[DinoMagnet]

Sorry meant diatoms

 

[raklassen]

I have a icecap 2k set in gyre mode fluctuating between 25-40%. And the factory return pump moving about 370 gph

 

[MaxTremors]

It sounds like diatoms. Are you using RODI water (and if buying from an LFS have you tested the TDS)? Doing a three day blackout won’t do anything to stop diatoms, they won’t go away until they consume all of the silicates in your water (at six months they should be long gone, which makes me think the water you’re adding might not be good).

 

[aws2266]

Watching this as I'm having the same problem in my 30g. My tank is only three months old. I did a black out and everything was fine when I turned the light on after two days. Looked perfect for about 3hrs, then started to look like **** again. It's so frustrating. Thinking of having my RO water tested. I used the water on a 55g and that tank is perfect.

 

[wonroc]

Get bottle bac

 

[raklassen]

It sounds like diatoms. Are you using RODI water (and if buying from an LFS have you tested the TDS)? Doing a three day blackout won’t do anything to stop diatoms, they won’t go away until they consume all of the silicates in your water (at six months they should be long gone, which makes me think the water you’re adding might not be good).

My ato is filled with rodi water that measures 0 tds coming out. Salt water comes from a reputable lfs, but I have never tested the tds.

I’m wondering if my filter socks could be the problem. I have 2 socks that I rotate every week. When I replace the sock, I clean it and let it dry and set it aside for next week. I’m wondering if I need to rethink my sock cleaning. Honestly, I’d like to just replace the sock with my uv light, but I’m concerned running a Uv light on such a young tank.

 

[raklassen]

Get bottle bac

Any particular recommendations?

 

[Chris Spaulding]

The RODI water may have high silicates in it even though it reads 0 TDS. The silicates are what will feed the diatoms.

 

[MaxTremors]

Any particular recommendations?

I don’t think this will help. You’ve got plenty of nitrifying bacteria, you don’t need more. The issue is that you’ve got nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) OR silicates feeding the algae or diatoms you’re seeing. Can you post a picture(s) under white lighting of what this algae looks like?

 

[Little c big D]

I had an algae bloom on an even younger tank and ran a uv for a week. I see no harm in it. Question. What's the tank look like in morning? Does the brown recede?

 

[raklassen]

I don’t think this will help. You’ve got plenty of nitrifying bacteria, you don’t need more. The issue is that you’ve got nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) OR silicates feeding the algae or diatoms you’re seeing. Can you post a picture(s) under white lighting of what this algae looks like?

 

[raklassen]

It’s been like this for about a week. I tested nitrates and phosphates Sunday. 5ppm and .04. All other parameters are spot on.

 

[raklassen]

The tank has been running less than 6 months, but the lights have only been on 1 month. I’m trying to follow the brs method and went the first 4 months with no lights. Within a week of lights on I had a nasty brown diatom outbreak. No coral at that time, so I went “lights out” for 3 days and added my clean up crew. Tank was back to looking fantastic within a few days.

This is the first time I’m really looking at it under such white lights. It’s definitely green and not the brown I assumed.

I’m still trying to learn so thank you all for the input

 

[raklassen]

Maybe its just hopeful thinking/imagination, but got home from work today and the tank does not seem to be as bad as what it has been the past few days.

Would a water change help in any way or would it be a waste of time at this point as far as knocking this stuff down.

 

[TastyScrants]

Maybe its just hopeful thinking/imagination, but got home from work today and the tank does not seem to be as bad as what it has been the past few days.

Would a water change help in any way or would it be a waste of time at this point as far as knocking this stuff down.

How are you getting on?

I have exactly the same issue, green bacteria reappearing on glass within an hour of cleaning. I thought mine was a type of phytoplankton given its "dusty" appearance when cleaned from the glass. Im dosing a blend of 5 phytoplanktons for my coral to try and out-compete it.

 

[Cell]

I had this issue awhile back, after a couple doses of Vibrant, my glass was spotless for a week.

 

[Rollman]

Tank looks super new with not much to out compete algae.

 

[Timfish]

In most cases, algae magnets only knock off the alge and it's free to float arepound and as you're seeing resettles on the glass pretty quickly. You can cut a pad to put on your algae magnet out of microfiber hand towel or white filter pad like is used in filter socks and rinse it out frequently as it collects the algae. You can also use paper towels to gently wipe and remove the algae.

FWIW I would not do any kind of black out. It afffects your corals as well as the algae limiting corals ability to compete with algae.

Paper towels for algae