Help With Never Ending Diatoms

[tpirovol]

Struggling with diatoms in a mature tank on the sand, Have had this on and off for years…

Using a full rodi system and still getting 4 before the di and 0 after.


What can I do to eliminate this for good??

 

[brandon429]

How big is the tank in gallons

Post full tank shot that isn't very bad above, no problem there

Too bright lighting is #1 fix, along with special cleaning based on tank size. It's not a parameter you measure you fix that.

 

[tpirovol]

This is a Red Sea Nano Max XL (33g). I have the lights at 70b/15w which is lower than some. I do water changes every 2 weeks (5g) including vacuum the substrate. I have 2x clowns, a blenny and a cleaner shrimp along with 5x nas, 4x turbo, tuxedo urchin and some other random snails.

I just started using the skimmer and feed 1x a day pellets.

 

[Lavey29]

Put a sand goby in there. Problem looks minor. My TDS read 0 but ICP showed silicate in my RODI so I got a silicate buster DI filter and now I have 0 silicate in my RODI.

 

[brandon429]

It needs to be lower. It won't work to compare to other setup % since variables that control primary growths range tank to tank. Lighting is top driver, it's not a nutrients issue for sure.



On a real reef, that's what's intended to grow, that system above isn't out of balance at all. It'll take something unnatural to control them if you aren't using a matched grazing animal.

Of course everyone recommends measuring and responding with chemistry but I don't. If you check real work threads, dosing changes actually bring on more problems than they fix.

Let's see full tank shot

 

[brandon429]

Do you run uv

 

[RoanokeReef]

This cleared up my diatoms, ATI showed silicates in my RO water until adding it - https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/silica-buster-di-filter-cartridge-10-spectrapure/

 

[DanP-SD]

If you use a saltwater mixing station, you could also run a small canister of GFO on the mixed saltwater before adding it to the tank.

 

[Lasse]

If it was my tank - I had check PO4 and NO3 in order to be sure that they not 0 or rather close to zero. When I know that there is some NO3 and PO4 in the system I would test to skip the vacuuming of the substrate for some months - instead of that - I would instead stir the sand every evening. The goal with this is not to create empty space for your diatoms (or whatever it is) and instead favor a healthy biofilm on the sand grains.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do you use RO/DI for top off?

 

[Subsea]

If it was my tank - I had check PO4 and NO3 in order to be sure that they not 0 or rather close to zero. When I know that there is some NO3 and PO4 in the system I would test to skip the vacuuming of the substrate for some months - instead of that - I would instead stir the sand every evening. The goal with this is not to create empty space for your diatoms (or whatever it is) and instead favor a healthy biofilm on the sand grains.

Sincerely Lasse

Personally, I like diatoms. Both ornamental & cryptic sponges require silicates, so I dose silicates and grow a large crew of herbivores including the pod brothers to eat the diatoms.

PS: When I stir sandbed, Sea Apple feeds in overdrive.

 

[tpirovol]

Do you use RO/DI for top off?

I do and that is what I am thinking

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I do and that is what I am thinking

Is the TDS always zero ppm?

 

[tpirovol]

Always it from what I underwent silicate might not show on the tds?

 

[Lasse]

If you have 0 ppm TDS - its not any issues with silicates in your RO water - IMO. Silicate is an ion - it would contribute to your TDS if there was any silicates in the RO water.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Always it from what I underwent silicate might not show on the tds?

Silicate will show on TDS, but 1 ppm is quite a lot.

 

[Lavey29]

This cleared up my diatoms, ATI showed silicates in my RO water until adding it - https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/silica-buster-di-filter-cartridge-10-spectrapure/

That's what I use too

 

[Lavey29]

And really unless you are turning sand over daily manually and siphon weekly with water changes it just ain't going to stay pearly white. Sand sifting goby helps get it close but as the tank ages it just gets dirty on top and inside along with a lot of beneficial bacteria too.