Brown Diatom Algae

[saltlight]

Hello All!
New to this great forum and have my first question...
My 75G tank has cycled and I just can't seem to get rid of the brown diatoms that are loose in the tank. I am running an Emperor 400 and the Filstar XP3 canister for filtration. My Ammonia is barely there (.25 or less) and my Nitrites are 0. Nitrates are <20. I added phosguard to the canister as well as a Phosphate absorbing pad because I was told that phosphates from the water might be what it is feeding on. This seemed to calm it down, but it is still coming. I suspect it is the water that I am using (prime+city tap). Is there anything I am missing? I run the lights about 9 hours a day. I also use to 400GPH powerheads to move the water around. My tank is fish only with no live rock.
I am probably missing some key details...but I just can't seem to get rid of this ugly stuff.
Thanks in advance,
saltlight :thinking:

 

[alyssia]

It would probably help if you used RO/DI water, and I seem to remember it taking quite awhile (2 months maybe) for my diatom algae to clear up.

 

[deny]

Can you add fish when you have this brown diatom? My tank is 8wks into it's cycle and I have only 2 damsels and am afraid to add anymore. It really looks yucky with the brown stuff...
Deny

 

[cain420]

green hair algae took over on top of my diatoms.. and now that is dissipating, was replaced with some red slime, which is now clearing up since I put some chaetomorpha in the tank and sump.. A macro-algae will eat up the nutrients used by other algaes and also helps to remove co2 and release oxygen..
my suggestion: add some chaeto!

 

[mikeyjer]

Originally Posted by saltlight
Hello All!
New to this great forum and have my first question...
My 75G tank has cycled and I just can't seem to get rid of the brown diatoms that are loose in the tank. I am running an Emperor 400 and the Filstar XP3 canister for filtration. My Ammonia is barely there (.25 or less) and my Nitrites are 0. Nitrates are <20. I added phosguard to the canister as well as a Phosphate absorbing pad because I was told that phosphates from the water might be what it is feeding on. This seemed to calm it down, but it is still coming. I suspect it is the water that I am using (prime+city tap). Is there anything I am missing? I run the lights about 9 hours a day. I also use to 400GPH powerheads to move the water around. My tank is fish only with no live rock.
I am probably missing some key details...but I just can't seem to get rid of this ugly stuff.
Thanks in advance,
saltlight :thinking:
Like it was mentioned already, you should be using RO and or RO/DI water to do water changes and top offs. But your tank is new anyway so it's a regular process it goes through with diatoms. It will eventually go away on it's own. I would not suggest adding any fish at this moment as you still have Ammonia!!! Have you done any water changes at all??? If not, you should do a water change around 15-20%. :happyfish