Diatom bloom?

javajoe

javajoe

Member
I have had my tank set up for about 2 weeks, and it has cycled-- nitrates, nitrites, and amonia all 0. over the last few days, i have been getting brown algae- it started on the sand, and VERY quickly spread to the rocks, and also some on the glass and even on my powerheads and heater!
I am assuming that this is the 'diatom bloom' that i have read aobut over and over here, and am wondering if other than waiting for it to run it's course, is there anything i can do? I bought some turbo snails, and they are doing a good job at keeping the rocks clean, but they are not touching the sand at all. what type of a creature, if any, will eat diatoms of my sand?
If i have to wait it out- i can do that, it is just really ugly! :)
Also, how long should i leave my lights on? I currently have 2 40 watt NO florescents- 1 actinic, and 1 20,000 k daylight bulb. (hoping to add either PCs or MH for christmas... so i can eventually add corals...)
Thanks....
Joe
 
@knight

@knight

Member
nassarius snails are good diatom eaters and live in the sand. if you can get a few they are highly recommended. but all in all, the best thing to do would be too be patient and wait it out.
 
mark-24

mark-24

Member
Well, this is normal. It's just a part of your tank becoming established. It will pass given time, but if your anything like me, you're not that patient. So, I highly recommend you to buy more hermits, preferably scarlet legs. Blue legs are pretty good, but can be pretty aggressive. Sounds like your setting up a reef tank, so you'll just have to have a good number of hermits in there, I'd say about 20-30. Look for a package deal on SWF.com, they have a few pretty nice ones. Also, other creatures you'll want to have in their should include a serpent star or some type of watchman goby to sift sand. Most types of sea stars will keep the sand nice and clean as well as eating detrius off the ground which will reduce nitrates. So thats a big plus. Also, one of my favorite reef safe fish has to be a 6 line wrasse they are so cool. Just thought I'd tell you that for no real reason.
-Mark
 
big dave

big dave

Member
Well, diatoms are something to be expected in very new tanks. What usually happens is they cover everything in the tank and after a week or 2 kinda die off and there aren't many left. To get the rest, get a few turbo snails as the beginning of a clean-up crew.
 
predator

predator

Active Member
If you can get your hands on some fighting conchs get them Those little guys are the kings of the clesn up crew. You'll get algea build up's for awhile. New tanks all ways do.If really gets to you scub it off you rocks and stir you sand up.
 
rmd8110

rmd8110

Member
I sure am glad i saw this. My tank is very new...tomorrow it will be one week. Yesterday afternoon i came home and looked in the tank..brown spots everywhere! all over the sand and on several rocks. I remembered reading something about this but couldn't remember what. My LFS told me to wait at least 2 weeks before i put any kind of critters in my tank. So if i wait that long this won't be a problem right?
 
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