Diatoms?

[Yesevil123]

My tanks been up since Feburary of last year. Recently in the last 2 weeks its started to devleop brown algae im assuming. I need direction to eliminate the issue. Its in a few areas of the tank. I do use RO water. Could it be my filters? I do need to change them its been about 6 months. Are they causing the silicates?

 

[lapin]

They usually go away after they consume the silicates. Have you tried vacuuming them out?
Filters ?
What filters are we referring too?

 

[Euphyllia97]

Has the tank been stocked since february aswell? Look really clean on the rocks. But yea they look like diatoms and silicates in your water might be the culprit if you didn’t add anything new for a while. They will naturally disappear by themselves, unless your source water contains silicates, so indeed, changing your filters for the RO/DI might fix the problem if source water is the problem

 

[kevgib67]

My tanks been up since Feburary of last year. Recently in the last 2 weeks its started to devleop brown algae im assuming. I need direction to eliminate the issue. Its in a few areas of the tank. I do use RO water. Could it be my filters? I do need to change them its been about 6 months. Are they causing the silicates?

I haven’t seen diatoms in a tank that’s been running for as long as yours. Perhaps you had introduced silicates. If so they will go away when they are consumed. Adding pods will speed things up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t know if those are for sure diatoms, but ensuring the tds of the ro/di does not rise above 0 ppm will help.

 

[EnterName]

RO or RO/DI water? There is a significant difference. The reverse osmosis membrane and some activated charcoal won't sufficiently get rid of excessive silicates that are often added to tap water to "make it smooth" (better for the pipes). This means you need at least one additional cartridge at the very end holding "mixed ion exchange resin". This ion exchange resin depletes much faster than all other filter media in your RO system and needs regular replacement. To verify it is operating properly you might want to invest in a Conductivity meter (pure water tester) or Total dissolved solids (TDS) meter. This device will measure your RO/DI water's electrical conductivity. As long as it is isn't showing values above 1μS/cm or 1ppm, your tank should not show significant diatom growth (as long as there isn't some other source of silicates).

To actually identify if it is a diatom or dinoflagellate issue, you can try the following:

1. If the stains grow and shrink through the day/night cycle it's very likely dinoflagellates.
2. There are SiO2/SiO4 tests for saltwater you can try (e.g. Salifert Si), however if this test detects something levels are already very high. An ICP test is a better indicator.
3. A microscope (even a very cheap one) would suffice to identify.

I hope I have covered the most important things for now.

 

[Yesevil123]

They usually go away after they consume the silicates. Have you tried vacuuming them out?
Filters ?
What filters are we referring too?

My RO filters

 

[Dan_P]

My tanks been up since Feburary of last year. Recently in the last 2 weeks its started to devleop brown algae im assuming. I need direction to eliminate the issue. Its in a few areas of the tank. I do use RO water. Could it be my filters? I do need to change them its been about 6 months. Are they causing the silicates?

The aquarium looks like it has been in suspended animation and was just revived. If true, we are looking at diatoms. Too early in this system’s life to support dinoflagellate growth. A microscope would really help ID the organism.

 

[lapin]

Maybe add a D/I resin filter if your out put tds is above 1

 

[Sam7]

For those that dont know "tds" mean's total desolved solids. Always check your water with a meter (cheap on amazon) everytime before you mix the salt to confirm 0 tds. If not zero or close change your filters or di resin so it wont add unwanted problems that create fuel algae or diatoms etc.

 

[EnterName]

The aquarium looks like it has been in suspended animation and was just revived. If true, we are looking at diatoms. Too early in this system’s life to support dinoflagellate growth. A microscope would really help ID the organism.

If you look closely you can see green (left) and violet (middle and right) cyano stains under the substrate. I feel like dinoflagellate growth should be possible as well, don't you think?

 

[Yesevil123]

Has the tank been stocked since february aswell? Look really clean on the rocks. But yea they look like diatoms and silicates in your water might be the culprit if you didn’t add anything new for a while. They will naturally disappear by themselves, unless your source water contains silicates, so indeed, changing your filters for the RO/DI might fix the problem if source water is the problem

I add new things to my tank monthly. You answered my question. Thank you. I figured it was the filters because ive never had an issue until right at the time that they need to be changed.

 

[Dan_P]

If you look closely you can see green (left) and violet (middle and right) cyano stains under the substrate. I feel like dinoflagellate growth should be possible as well, don't you think?

Yes, I agree.