Diatoms 4 day total darkness

[starfish67]

My tank is 5 months old and my water is top notch. Ugly stage was not getting better brown slime on rocks and sand. Got a large set of CUC all kinds, snails, chrongs, tangs, sand starsfish, gobies, change filter weekly,
Change water every 2 weeks. No improvement till I did total back out for 4 days and wow what a major improvement.
My question is I can still see small amount of hair algae still in the tank. Do I cover to darkness longer? I’m afraid now that lights are back on it will just grow back?





Last pic was the before heavy diatoms.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My tank is 5 months old and my water is top notch. Ugly stage was not getting better brown slime on rocks and sand. Got a large set of CUC all kinds, snails, chrongs, tangs, sand starsfish, gobies, change filter weekly,
Change water every 2 weeks. No improvement till I did total back out for 4 days and wow what a major improvement.
My question is I can still see small amount of hair algae still in the tank. Do I cover to darkness longer? I’m afraid now that lights are back on it will just grow back?





Last pic was the before heavy diatoms.

If subsided, you can resume light schedule slowly ramping up the white intensity. While diatoms are harmless and feed mainly off of silicates as well as dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to get a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. Using an RODI unit helps, although you can still get diatoms with an RODI unit if the cartridge that removes silicates becomes expired. . . Some things to check.
To prevent their return, do regular water changes, keep the bedding clean, don’t overfeed tank, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and keep filter socks and sponges clean on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

 

[starfish67]

Thanks! I get my water from fish guy who delivers it and he uses Rodi water and my ATO replaces with RODI. Forgot to mention I run a UV sterilizer and was considering adding median GFO with charcoal to keep water clear. My nitrate is .20 and phos .09-.13, so been trying to get those down. The GFO I will intro in slow amounts and remove it soon as my phos get to .03 is my target. Reduced my feeding already a week ago hope I see a difference. Getting water change tomorrow this time we will be doing a large 40% if the nitrate and phos are still high. I’m just nervous the brown slime will come back. Guess just have to wait and see.

 

[rtparty]

You are likely dealing with dinos and not diatoms. A blackout will be a temporary fix at best but they’ll be back

GFO is the last thing I’d add as you don’t want to drop phosphate

 

[starfish67]

My tank is 5 months old and my water is top notch. Ugly stage was not getting better brown slime on rocks and sand. Got a large set of CUC all kinds, snails, chrongs, tangs, sand starsfish, gobies, change filter weekly,
Change water every 2 weeks. No improvement till I did total back out for 4 days and wow what a major improvement.
My question is I can still see small amount of hair algae still in the tank. Do I cover to darkness longer? I’m afraid now that lights are back on it will just grow back?





Last pic was the before heavy diatoms.

If subsided, you can resume light schedule slowly ramping up the white intensity. While diatoms are harmless and feed mainly off of silicates as well as dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to get a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. Using an RODI unit helps, although you can still get diatoms with an RODI unit if the cartridge that removes silicates becomes expired. . . Some things to check.
To prevent their return, do regular water changes, keep the bedding clean, don’t overfeed tank, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and keep filter socks and sponges clean on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

Thanks I am doing all of these things so just more time I presume thanks for your help

 

[elmareefer]

how did your corals handle to 4 day blackout period?