Diatom everywhere....

[BlazinNano]

Well I think it is diatom. it is basically brown powder. It builds up all in the rocks, parts of the sand. Anything I can do to get rid of it?

 

[reefz3ro]

how old is the tank, it usually happens in new tanks. do you us R/O. find out where the sillicates are comming from and stop adding them.

 

[RadReef]

You can try using Aqua Vitro 8.4 buffer. My wife had some non reef rock in her tank that was leaching silicates into her tank, unfortunately the rock was also covered in corals :( Her glass would literally look like brown tinted glass. But, we starting dosing the 8.4 and within two days her glass was clear and clean. It also raises your alkilinity, which is good. I just would moderate it's use because we noticed that using it daily caused an outbreak of cyanobacteria which is always present but usually under control. It does work well though.....

 

[Yellowtang]

Is this a realatively new tank setup, if so it may go away on its own. If not the you may have to much silicate in the tank. Skimmer might be to small for tank. Phosphates high? Overfeeding? Got Pics?

 

[BlazinNano]

The tank is 8 months old. It is not on the glass. It is not slime just like puff brown stuff. The skimmer is not the greatest. Only a Seaclone which is on its way out. I was having a problem with nitrates because I was feeding to much. Basically everyday. Now I am down to feeding twice a week. I don't know where I could be getting silicates or how I could even test to find out what would have it in it. I only use RODI fresh and salt from the LFS. I do have an unopened container of Kent SuperBuffer-dkH. Would that help?

 

[Yellowtang]

Only the bad things happen fast in a reef tank. Now that you've cut back on feeding
and a couple water changes down the road it could start coming around. syphon
as much out as you can during water changes. Silicate test kits are relatively cheap
you might try geting one of those if things don't perk up soon.

JR,

 

[oceanparadise1]

Up your flow. Don't worry about ro water I have a 500 gallon system that's all tap water all the time and I have no algea problems at all! Up the flow and up the skimmer to skim more or up grade it.

 

[reefz3ro]

Tap water is all relative to the source someones tap water might be great but mine is horrible.

 

[BlazinNano]

I live in Orlando. I can smell the chlorine coming out of the faucet..