LCA Silicates, Diatoms and UV

[dR3ws3r]

Hi,

I know there are a million posts on this topic, so sorry for adding another one, but I have a pretty simple question. I have what I believe to be LCA. I have viewed it under a microscope and the behavior seems typical. Mostly on the sand, some of the rocks and glass. Almost no bubbles. I have been dosing Silicates for almost 2 months now, without much help. I still don't see many or any diatoms under the scope. So I was considering the UV Sand Bed Sweeper, as I am really sick of looking at the mess in my tank. BUT I got to thinking that if I am really trying to create a diatom bloom, won't the UV Sweeper kill the diatoms too, thus wasting all this "work" I have been doing ... that being dosing silicates, MB7, phyto and Life Source? Should I just continue to hang in there with the dosing, or can using the Sweeper effectively destroy my dinos. And if someone asks, my Nitrates are in the 8-10 range and my phosphates are getting quite large, almost to the point that I think the silicates are causing fake high readings (0.4-ish). I am using hannah testers fwiw.

Thoughts?

 

[Dan_P]

Hi,

I know there are a million posts on this topic, so sorry for adding another one, but I have a pretty simple question. I have what I believe to be LCA. I have viewed it under a microscope and the behavior seems typical. Mostly on the sand, some of the rocks and glass. Almost no bubbles. I have been dosing Silicates for almost 2 months now, without much help. I still don't see many or any diatoms under the scope. So I was considering the UV Sand Bed Sweeper, as I am really sick of looking at the mess in my tank. BUT I got to thinking that if I am really trying to create a diatom bloom, won't the UV Sweeper kill the diatoms too, thus wasting all this "work" I have been doing ... that being dosing silicates, MB7, phyto and Life Source? Should I just continue to hang in there with the dosing, or can using the Sweeper effectively destroy my dinos. And if someone asks, my Nitrates are in the 8-10 range and my phosphates are getting quite large, almost to the point that I think the silicates are causing fake high readings (0.4-ish). I am using hannah testers fwiw.

Thoughts?

Stop dosing stuff and start using the UV sweeper :-)

 

[dR3ws3r]

Stop dosing stuff and start using the UV sweeper :-)

That is fine with me, I just hope I have "fixed" the root cause, and they just won't come back. I am really sick of looking at the tank. And my poor cleanup crew ...