Brown Diatom - Keep it gone forever?

[lutz493]

This mebbe an ignorant question on my part but I am slightly perplexed.
I understand what the Brown Diatom is and where it comes from but can you or do any of you keep it to a bare minium?
My tank has been up tad over 6 months this week. It is a 55 Gal FOWLR. I run a skimmer, 350 Magnum Dual Bio Wheels, 90lbs of LR. I run 4, 55 Watt Bulbs on a Helios System. 2 are Daytime, 2 are Acintic. I run the Acintic light 1 hour before and after total lights off. Then I run both lights for ruffly 8-9 hours a day. I use a RO unit and do a water change of 10 percent every 8-9 days. I have a 2 1/2 inch Live Sand Bed, but it has only been in the tank for about a week and 1/2 previous to that it was crushed coral. I feed my fish Mysis once a day and my 2 Anemones 1/4 peice of Frozen Shrimp every couple of days.
My water levels are all fine. My Nitrate has been ill to none since my 1st water change since the tank cycled. I do not check for Phosphates but did run phosphate sponge in my Filter and Skimmer for about 48 hours after I put in the Sand Bed.
I've got Ceriths in the tank 10, 4 Large Ones and 10 Nass Snails
All that being said, I still need to clean the front glass every 4 days to keep it clean. I have a hard time getting to the back and it starts to build in a few spots..
Yes, I understand it will grow but does it grow to the point for you guys you need to clean the glass every few days? I'm gonna toss in another 20 Snails I think. Do any of you put in a chemical on a regular basis to keep it down?
I am wanting Coraline to grow on the back glass of the tank and instead I'm getting this Diatom, If I understand correctly the Coraline will not grow if the Diatom is there.
So what is a guy to do?

 

[acez28]

i dunno.....i was getting it bad at first now i maybe cleam my glass every coupla weeks. Then it dont really need it but i do it just to keep it from forming. I only have 6 snails also. My hermits take it out most of the time. Maybe you could try hermits.

 

[broomer5]

Lutz493
I've come to believe that as we strive to keep a healthy tank for our marine critters ~ there is no way to totally eliminate the need to occassionally wipe down the inside glass.
Even if our test kits register zero nitrates/phosphates/silicates ~ algae & some diatom growth is expected ~ especially in a highly lit reef tank environment.
If were keeping living animals that are fed and produce wastes - there will almost always be some level of nutrients that the algae, cynobacteria and diatoms can utilize.
It doesn't have to be a lot ~ they'll grab it as it becomes available.
As we wipe down the glass - most often we release some of the nutrients back into the water ( or at least we release the growth back into the water column ).
Light + CO2 gas + most any level of nutrients can lead to some growth of algaes. It's a natural part of keeping a well lit marine tank in my opinion.
If you notice some areas of the tank that have "excessive" growth - it may be a water circulation issue.
The only tanks I've seen that have little growth on the glass - are FO or FOWLR tanks ~ that have minimum lighting.
Many ( not all I'm sure ), but many reefer's wipe down their tank glass weekly, if not more often.
It's part of the hobby in my opinion.
It the growth becomes excessive ~ you may want to look at feeding and checking your RO water.

 

[lutz493]

Thank you-
I have often read about people talking how they have a good clean-up crew and rarely have to worry about Algae or Diatoms and it was driving me up a wall that as hard as I have been working to keep my Salt Tank in the best condition that I can, I am still getting the Diatom problems.
I have no problem cleaning the tank, a few posts were just making me wonder if there was something I was missing in the scheme of things.
~

 

[jhead]

Most reefers I know clean the glass often enough they don't even bother the take their magfloats out of the tanks. I have nice pink, purple and red coraline growing on mine. It does not look that bad in the tank and they are pretty easy to hide.

 

[logan15]

im a begining reefer and i clean my glass daily even if you cant see it if you look through the side of your tank you can see some algae that you cant see straight on i use 5 different light s so go figure
Hope this helps,
Logan

 

[dindi]

Well... all my water parameters are excellent, still have the nasty brown stuff. The only time it went away is when my Golden butterfly and my crescent angle went away, they died because my alk was way low. Any help here is much appreciated

 

[randy 12]

You said you use RO. Is it just RO or RO/DI? We have an RO/DI High S by Kent and we don't have a problem with brown algae anymore. The High S takes the silicates out.