Diatoms

My diatoms are back. I replaced the material in my phosphate reactor
which knocked them back for a few days, but they rebounded again. My
nitrates and phosphates are both undetectable.

I'm thinking this is silicates although I'm still waiting the arrival of
my test kit. I thought my RO/DI unit would take care of this, but I
also heard that it only works on silicates for the first 100 gallons.
Is there a better DI media for this?

I'm doing 10 hours of lighting and I haven't changed this for a long
time. I'd hate to change it because my ritteri is finally looking good
after nearly 6 months of nursing it back to health.

Any ideas?

--Kurt

The Kent Marine HiS is a good one.

But really, you should not have a problem with
diatoms other than the fact that it will grow on
your front glass, and your front glass has to be
cleaned off. I've even deliberately added potassium
silicate to my reef tanks, to encourage diatoms, and
never had any problems with diatoms. Things usually
balance out soon.

I'd say that there's something else wrong besides
silicates. Getting a good RO might help.

How long have you had your tank? Any recent moves or
major changes?


Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


KurtG wrote on 5/14/2007 2:11 PM:
My diatoms are back. I replaced the material in my phosphate reactor
which knocked them back for a few days, but they rebounded again. My
nitrates and phosphates are both undetectable.

I'm thinking this is silicates although I'm still waiting the arrival of
my test kit. I thought my RO/DI unit would take care of this, but I
also heard that it only works on silicates for the first 100 gallons.
Is there a better DI media for this?

I'm doing 10 hours of lighting and I haven't changed this for a long
time. I'd hate to change it because my ritteri is finally looking good
after nearly 6 months of nursing it back to health.

Any ideas?

--Kurt

Wayne Sallee wrote:
But really, you should not have a problem with diatoms other than the
fact that it will grow on your front glass, and your front glass has to
be cleaned off.

Whenever diatoms kick up, my ritteri seems to become very unhappy
shortly after that. Perhaps it has more to do with something rotting in
the aquarium, but usually when I see diatoms, I hit the panic button and
start searching for the cause.

In the past, I've ignored the diatoms only to find a gelatinous filter
sponge in my pump or similar.


I've even deliberately added potassium silicate to my
reef tanks, to encourage diatoms, and never had any problems with
diatoms. Things usually balance out soon.

Okay, I give up. Why do you encourage diatoms?


I'd say that there's something else wrong besides silicates. Getting a
good RO might help.

Yeah, the municipal water here really sucks and comes from a well. I've
been thinking about running a pre-filter RO just to take a first pass at
removing the crud. My TDS is still 0.


How long have you had your tank? Any recent moves or major changes?

9 months, but only 6 months of that had decent lighting. No recent
changes other then to change the phosphate reactor media which knocked
out the diatoms for about a week. I did start doing a weekly 5 gallon
water change instead of the monthly 30.

Oh, and I did move some rocks around a week ago and again this morning.
My blenny has been tunneling underneath, so some of my rock
formations have become unstable. Maybe that's it.

--Kurt

KurtG wrote on 5/15/2007 8:07 AM:

I've even deliberately added potassium silicate to my
reef tanks, to encourage diatoms, and never had any problems with
diatoms. Things usually balance out soon.

Okay, I give up. Why do you encourage diatoms?



It's a valuable part of the food chain.





I'd say that there's something else wrong besides silicates. Getting a
good RO might help.

Yeah, the municipal water here really sucks and comes from a well. I've
been thinking about running a pre-filter RO just to take a first pass at
removing the crud. My TDS is still 0.

How long have you had your tank? Any recent moves or major changes?

9 months, but only 6 months of that had decent lighting. No recent
changes other then to change the phosphate reactor media which knocked
out the diatoms for about a week. I did start doing a weekly 5 gallon
water change instead of the monthly 30.

Oh, and I did move some rocks around a week ago and again this morning.
My blenny has been tunneling underneath, so some of my rock
formations have become unstable. Maybe that's it.

--Kurt


Then you need to think of your tank as being 6
months old, and it takes 1 year to reach prime. The
more you move things around, the more it has to
readjust, depending on the nature of the move.

And yes, an increase in the stering up of the
substrate will cause an increase of nutrient laden
muck to fertilize the tank. Don't let the idea worry
you, but this change will cause other changes.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets

Wayne Sallee wrote:
KurtG wrote on 5/15/2007 8:07 AM:
Okay, I give up. Why do you encourage diatoms?

It's a valuable part of the food chain.



Could you elaborate? I'm curious.

I think I may have just panicked for nothing, but I do have all my
maintenance done w/ shiny clean powerheads, skimmer, and hoses. :-)

I really like muriatic acid for cleaning Ca carbonate. Much faster.

--Kurt

It's a major part of the food chain in the ocean.

In the reef tank, snails eat it. Turbo snails will
starve to death if there is not enough diatoms to
eat. Many fish eat it, leaving kiss marks on the
glass. There are worms that eat it, and when it gets
stirred up, many kinds of filter feeders eat it.
Free phytoplankton.


Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


KurtG wrote on 5/17/2007 8:08 AM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
KurtG wrote on 5/15/2007 8:07 AM:
Okay, I give up. Why do you encourage diatoms?

It's a valuable part of the food chain.



Could you elaborate? I'm curious.

I think I may have just panicked for nothing, but I do have all my
maintenance done w/ shiny clean powerheads, skimmer, and hoses. :-)

I really like muriatic acid for cleaning Ca carbonate. Much faster.

--Kurt

Wayne Sallee wrote:
The Kent Marine HiS is a good one.

Doh! Another $300 purchase.

Maybe I could use my current one for drinking water, ice machine, and
pre-filter and then use this baby to get finished aquarium water.

This hobby is eating my lunch.

--Kurt

Depending on the unit you have, you might be able to
just change the membranes.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


KurtG wrote on 5/15/2007 8:38 AM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
The Kent Marine HiS is a good one.

Doh! Another $300 purchase.

Maybe I could use my current one for drinking water, ice machine, and
pre-filter and then use this baby to get finished aquarium water.

This hobby is eating my lunch.

--Kurt

KurtG wrote:
My diatoms are back. I replaced the material in my phosphate reactor
which knocked them back for a few days, but they rebounded again. My
nitrates and phosphates are both undetectable.

Well, my nitrates test at 0 and my phosphates are at the bottom of the scale,
but I've still got a tank full of hair algae. I'm thinking that things like
diatoms and algae that eat nitrates and phosphates must keep the levels low (by
eating them up). I've been using PhosBan and have some RowaPhos ordered, but I'm
almost ready to give up.

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

George Patterson wrote:
Well, my nitrates test at 0 and my phosphates are at the bottom of the
scale, but I've still got a tank full of hair algae.

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...product=TL4111

Are you using this? It's far better then that ceramic crud. My hair
algae has been dying off and separating from the rock in big tufts. I
run two reactors and replace the oldest one once a month.

I still have plenty of hair algae left, but it's nice to have coraline
algae growing.

Are you dosing with kalkwasser? If not, I'd really recommend it. It's
also suppose to keep phosphates down and after the coraline algae starts
growing it will knock out the hair algae. That's been my experience.