Diatoms will not go away after a year

Rileysreef50

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My tank has been up for about a year. I do a weekly 20% water change. The diatoms will not go away! The nitrates are only at about 10, and the phosphate is only at about .04. They haven’t gone away since it first cycled. It’s honestly making me rethink setting up a tank in the first place.
E28E8DFB-DB5F-4322-A9E2-BA4568244D85.jpeg
 

GoVols

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Do you use pure RO/DI water for mixing new salt and for top-off water?
 

Bfragale

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It does look like diatoms but I dealt with a type of Dino’s that looked very similar, and did not show the typical “bubbles” as well as my system was 25 no3 and .1 po4. So wasn’t ultra low nutrients..

If your able to get a sample under a microscope you could tell for sure. If it is diatoms I would suspect silicates in your water source.

I also would like to note the photo does not look a year old system- it could be but your rocks look too white to me. Have your changed the rocks? Have the lights been on for the year? The photo looks like a new tank going they the ugly stage- but this should not take a year.
 

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My tank has been up for about a year. I do a weekly 20% water change. The diatoms will not go away! The nitrates are only at about 10, and the phosphate is only at about .04. They haven’t gone away since it first cycled. It’s honestly making me rethink setting up a tank in the first place.
E28E8DFB-DB5F-4322-A9E2-BA4568244D85.jpeg
What's in there for a cleanup crew?
 
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Rileysreef50

Rileysreef50

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It does look like diatoms but I dealt with a type of Dino’s that looked very similar, and did not show the typical “bubbles” as well as my system was 25 no3 and .1 po4. So wasn’t ultra low nutrients..

If your able to get a sample under a microscope you could tell for sure. If it is diatoms I would suspect silicates in your water source.

I also would like to note the photo does not look a year old system- it could be but your rocks look too white to me. Have your changed the rocks? Have the lights been on for the year? The photo looks like a new tank going they the ugly stage- but this should not take a year.
I was thinking it could be silicates. We are on rural water and my RODI system isn’t exactly top of the line.
 

taricha

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that's gonna be dinos. not diatoms. (I think)
 

Bfragale

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I was thinking it could be silicates. We are on rural water and my RODI system isn’t exactly top of the line.

if your local to Los Angeles your more then welcome to come use my microscope to check it out. That would pinpoint if it’s diatoms or Dino’s.
 

Dan_P

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My tank has been up for about a year. I do a weekly 20% water change. The diatoms will not go away! The nitrates are only at about 10, and the phosphate is only at about .04. They haven’t gone away since it first cycled. It’s honestly making me rethink setting up a tank in the first place.
E28E8DFB-DB5F-4322-A9E2-BA4568244D85.jpeg
@brando429, rip clean candidate?
 
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Rileysreef50

Rileysreef50

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that's gonna be dinos. not diatoms. (I think)
You sure? There’s no bubbles or little strings coming off of it. And I don’t know what could’ve caused dinos. My nitrates usually stay at about 10. I’m thinking it could be my RODI water. Going to buy a TDS meter from a friend and see.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Dan I agree and not just because Im as predicable as the tides.


its literally because that looks great above for one year, hands off

these are white, open reflective surfaces. that they take on offending mass is no surprise, and it does not take bad water to do so, it takes allowance.

a deep clean doesn't undo the cycle, it reinstates the looks we all want and it does not wait for an animal to do it. At any time this reef can be deep cleaned from this:

51A3603D-079B-4E2B-818E-E3A319EE41FC.jpeg.jpg

Gators reef
to this:
1E40CB40-8D8F-408E-A692-BC7B2DD07655.jpeg.jpg


because it is a nano. if it was a large reef we'd have to actually be creative and work within the confines of the tank and its gallonage. this one can be disassembly cleaned in no time. 2 hours.
 
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Rileysreef50

Rileysreef50

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Dan I agree and not just because Im as predicable as the tides.


its literally because that looks great above for one year, hands off

these are white, open reflective surfaces. that they take on offending mass is no surprise, and it does not take bad water to do so, it takes allowance.

a deep clean doesn't undo the cycle, it reinstates the looks we all want and it does not wait for an animal to do it. At any time this reef can be deep cleaned from this:

51A3603D-079B-4E2B-818E-E3A319EE41FC.jpeg.jpg

Gators reef
to this:
1E40CB40-8D8F-408E-A692-BC7B2DD07655.jpeg.jpg


because it is a nano. if it was a large reef we'd have to actually be creative and work within the confines of the tank and its gallonage. this one can be disassembly cleaned in no time. 2 hours.
Any tips on how to go about doing this?
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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pls don't think im crazy for whats coming up lol
 

LegendaryCG

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Agree it does look like diatoms to me.. sand in the well water perhaps. I have a similar issue with mine but im able to remove it with a 6 stage filter but I burn resin.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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we are able to deep clean sandbeds in tanks like that because the bacteria on the rocks is sufficient.

getting the waste out from between the sand grains is what removes the invasion and its feed-or at least cuts back on offending mass 99% like the above pics show. he still has algae to work with, nothing is a one off cure.

but his work isn't combining both cyano and ditoms and gha any more its just a little hand guiding expected from dry rock starts, yours is an easier job than Gator's above.

so youd lift your rocks out and set them in a tote of saltwater made up to salinity but not even heated really, just made up saltwater to a decent salinity... this is for rocks only nothing else. set them in here and brush off all the invasion in this water

fish and corals go cleanly into another holding container, clean water matching temp and salinity from the main tanks water.

now the main tank is only sand and water, clean it all. sand is rinsed in tap water, tap water, for as long as it takes to be snowglobe clean, that's 120% rinsed clean with tap water till its cloudless.

the final rinse is in RO water to this sand.

the tank was wiped out with vinegar or peroxide etc, totally clean.

set back this perfect sand in the tank. add back water, all new. matching temp and salinity of your old reef.

next move over rocks...those bacteria only saw saltwater so they're ok/ what happened to the sandbed bacteria doesn't matter as its now waste free and you have the upper hand

put back fish and corals. clean system.

where things go wrong: out of fear for bacteria people under rinse sand. we can't do that. hammer time.

those are the specific steps that produced those pics as well as fifty pages of reef tank relocations in the sand rinse/home move thread.

we moved only clean systems, and those never recycle. the dirty moves recycle.

if you wanted to lightly mist-spray your rocks, after cleaning, with 3% peroxide then rinse off again in saltwater and move over that will not harm. it'll cut some of the offending growth and the bacteria are tolerant to it-already studied for years.
 
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Rileysreef50

Rileysreef50

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we are able to deep clean sandbeds in tanks like that because the bacteria on the rocks is sufficient.

getting the waste out from between the sand grains is what removes the invasion and its feed-or at least cuts back on offending mass 99% like the above pics show. he still has algae to work with, nothing is a one off cure.

but his work isn't combining both cyano and ditoms and gha any more its just a little hand guiding expected from dry rock starts, yours is an easier job than Gator's above.

so youd lift your rocks out and set them in a tote of saltwater made up to salinity but not even heated really, just made up saltwater to a decent salinity... this is for rocks only nothing else. set them in here and brush off all the invasion in this water

fish and corals go cleanly into another holding container, clean water matching temp and salinity from the main tanks water.

now the main tank is only sand and water, clean it all. sand is rinsed in tap water, tap water, for as long as it takes to be snowglobe clean, that's 120% rinsed clean with tap water till its cloudless.

the final rinse is in RO water to this sand.

the tank was wiped out with vinegar or peroxide etc, totally clean.

set back this perfect sand in the tank. add back water, all new. matching temp and salinity of your old reef.

next move over rocks...those bacteria only saw saltwater so they're ok/ what happened to the sandbed bacteria doesn't matter as its now waste free and you have the upper hand

put back fish and corals. clean system.

where things go wrong: out of fear for bacteria people under rinse sand. we can't do that. hammer time.

those are the specific steps that produced those pics as well as fifty pages of reef tank relocations in the sand rinse/home move thread.

we moved only clean systems, and those never recycle. the dirty moves recycle.

if you wanted to lightly mist-spray your rocks, after cleaning, with 3% peroxide then rinse off again in saltwater and move over that will not harm. it'll cut some of the offending growth and the bacteria are tolerant to it-already studied for years.
I think I’ll check the tds of my RODI water before doing anything too drastic. Thanks for the tips! On the bright side, the corals are doing fine.
 

LRT

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I think I’ll check the tds of my RODI water before doing anything too drastic. Thanks for the tips! On the bright side, the corals are doing fine.
Should most definetely get tds meter and check what your putting in your tank.
I've been dealing with all kinds of nasties. Something has actually stained my white discs that nothing will remove.
The greatest possible water quality is where I wish I would have started if I could do it all over again.
But like Brandon said you could totally rip clean your system. And you may even have to do it a cpl times like ive had to recently.
Hard work, dedication but I'd start at source water which is most likely your true issue. That combined with due diligence maintenance combined with super clean source water should knock it out in cpl months.
 

attiland

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My tank has been up for about a year. I do a weekly 20% water change. The diatoms will not go away! The nitrates are only at about 10, and the phosphate is only at about .04. They haven’t gone away since it first cycled. It’s honestly making me rethink setting up a tank in the first place.
E28E8DFB-DB5F-4322-A9E2-BA4568244D85.jpeg
Get a microscope ID. Diatoms don’t last this long unless there is silicates constantly available.
I would be surprised if the microscope will show diatoms though
 

hawk82

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It does look like diatoms but I dealt with a type of Dino’s that looked very similar, and did not show the typical “bubbles” as well as my system was 25 no3 and .1 po4. So wasn’t ultra low nutrients..

If your able to get a sample under a microscope you could tell for sure. If it is diatoms I would suspect silicates in your water source.

I also would like to note the photo does not look a year old system- it could be but your rocks look too white to me. Have your changed the rocks? Have the lights been on for the year? The photo looks like a new tank going they the ugly stage- but this should not take a year.
I dont mean to highjack the thread, but Im dealing with this kinda dinos now. No bubbles in them, they go away at night, come back in the day, looks like diatoms. My tank just turned a year in January, and I started with gulf live rock, so I know its good and cycled. Ive got coraline algae everywhere, and corals are doing well. These just started showing up about a month ago. Do you have any thing to suggest to help fight them? My no3 and po4 had bottomed out to 0 at the time this started. Ive been dosing neophos and neonitrate for the past week now and have no3 up to 5, and po4 just started to show a little color on the sailfert test. Its not getting any worse, but its not really getting any better either.
 

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