diatom bloom

[king of ninx]

hey i had posted a thread on brown alge and some one had said that it was a diatom bloom. can some onme please tell what a diatom bloom is abd how i can get rid of it thanx. i will post a pic shortly

 

[thomas712]

You asked for it; You got it: Silicates and silicate acid
http://www.aquariuminstruments.com/g...es/diatoms.htm
Thomas

 

[alti]

if the tank is new and you are using RO or distilled water the diatoms may go away on their own. they usually appear for a few weeks in new tanks until the excess phosphates and nutrients are consumed. if you are using tap water you might have a harder time getting rid of them since the water here in jersey is pretty high in tds and does contain some phosphate and silicate. i could not get rid of my diatoms until i started using distilled water.

 

[smellsfishy]

I feel your pain... I've got..er, had..a pretty good diatom bloom going after 6 weeks of cycle. I did a search here for "brown algea" and "diatom" and then read for a couple hours.
From all the reading, what I took away from it is this: Its part of "life" and it should go away in a few weeks if you are using RO/DI water.
I changed my filter element, which has activated carbon. I took it a step further and threw in a bunch of little snails. They are doing a super job of eating all the diatoms off the rocks. I also added a sand-sifting star, but he's pretty...well, lazy... so far. But he just went in yesterday, so I'll give him a few days to adjust. If I'm still unhappy in a few weeks I'll look at a phosphate
filter element, or bag to help get phosphate outa there.
Hope this helps.

 

[king of ninx]

thanx for all ur help

 

[ellehcim]

ive been using tap water , i had a diatom bloom after the first week of my cycle, 3 weeks into the cycle the brown algea has now almost completely disappeared. I just waited it out and it seems to have worked for me.