Desperate for an answere

N

newreefers

Guest
ok, here goes, what in the world will remove a diatom bloom?????
tank is 6 years old, no new additions
Things I have tried that have failed:
reduce feeding
cerith snails
fighting conch snails
phosphate sponges
stopped using garlic with food
weekly water changes
phosphate filter to grab phosphates (was desperate)
checked lights ( only 5 months old)
It started to go away and then came back with a vengance
I am about to give up!! been fighting this for 2 months now.
 
searcher

searcher

Member
I'm a total reef beginer, but I was under the impression that a diatom bloom is caused by silicate in the water. Maybe the composition of your water source has changed in the last few months causing your problem.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
There are silicate removing compounds on the market. I have never used them, so can not vouch for how they work. I know I have seen them on line somewhere, but right now can not find it.
What is your water source.
Thomas
BTW - just in case you didn't think I cought it....."Atta Girl":D
 
reef fool

reef fool

Active Member
It does sound like silicates to me. Rowaphos takes out silicates as well as PO4 and arsenic. I have used it and it works great on PO4 with no ill effects to livestock or corals.
First step is get a Salifert silicate test kit and check them if you haven't already. This site sells them at a very fair price if your LFS doesn't.
 
leigh

leigh

Active Member
do you buy RO water? if you're doing tap water changes--even if you're tap water has been okay all these years, it could be due to that.
 
N

newreefers

Guest
I have been using RO water forever. it's strange because I use the same water and same food in all my tanks and only one of them has the diatom bloom.
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
Which tank is giving you problems ?
Does it contain anything different in the way of substrate or rocks - relative to the other tanks that are not experiencing the diatoms ??
 
leigh

leigh

Active Member
did you do a water change on that tank more recently than other tanks? maybe the canisters on your RO source have gone bad and so just the most recent water change was a problem.
 
N

newreefers

Guest
problem tank is the 37 gallon. I don't think it is the water since I do weekly water changes in all 3 tanks with the same water and the other tanks are fine.
in case it matters the lights on the 37 are 130w of pc and 72w of pc on the 10, the 6 just has the light that came with the eclipse, no corals in there, just some ls and lr. I don't want a reason to have to stick my hand in there since a 4" peacock mantis lives in there.
 
eugenecjr

eugenecjr

Member
Please if anybody feels that anything that I have said is wrong please correct me, but here are some things that you may want to do and to watch out for.
First just to get this out of the way, Marc Weiss has a product called Phosphate+Silicate Magnet that may help you out.
But first you are going to want to test and make sure that your Phosphate levels are low. From what I have seen the silicate will not go away until the phosephate is gone. This leads to alot of missunderstanding as to just getting rid of the silicate. It is a progression that in some cases will take care of itself because the silicate itself will sometimes go away after about a week if present once the phosphate has been removed, however if you are adding it in with the water supply then you are not doing yourself any favors. There was a good point that was brough up as to tap water, however I remember you said that you are using RO water.
Here is a far fetched issue has anybody been doing extra cleaning in your house. I can not tell you that this is a fact, but I have heard that many cleaners will release phosphates into the air and that may be one why that they are getting introduced in your tank.
Anyhow, do not give up! I am sure that you are like many of us and have invested many dollars into your tank as well as time. I have alot of friends that have had problems that did not have them before.
I hope that this little bit of information does help, if you have any questions please let me know.
 
N

newreefers

Guest
I couldn't find the magnet stuff by Marc Weiss, so today I put more phosphate sponge in, and added some carbon and a new piece of the phos filter and a piece of poly filter. tom I am going back to the lfs and buying some macro algae and putting that in to see if it helps. I'm pretty much out of ideas now.
 
N

newreefers

Guest
according to the red sea test between 0 and 0.1. hard to read the color chart. last Sat. I had the lfs test it with a monitor and they read 0.
 
N

newreefers

Guest
that is the million dollar question right now, been fighting this for about 2 months and can't get rid of them.
 
eugenecjr

eugenecjr

Member
Yes, but the method of removal is the important side of this question. If you are just scrapping it off then the diatoms are single celled organisams that will just settle and then start to multiply again. However the best solution is to completely remove them.
 
blondenaso1

blondenaso1

Member
Ok, well here are my shots in the dark. You said you have a mantis shrimp AND a diatom problem probably caused by silicates. Well I know something that can cause both of these....Gulf Live Rock. Is there any chance that that tank has LR from the Gulf/Keys and your other tanks don't? I know that the base rock that they use for aquaculturing in Florida is loaded with silicates and maybe that after 6 years it has had enough time to leach out of the rock and into the water column.
Possible cure.....??? What is you pH at? I have heard that people have had luck with diatom/other algae by raising the pH and keeping it around 8.4. This method worked in my tank with some nasty hair algae. Hope this helps. Let us know......
 
N

newreefers

Guest
I think my rock is figi rock, and the ph is at 8.4 as of this mornings test results. also, the mantis isn't in the tank with the diatom problem.
 
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