Diatoms in my established reef ....

btldreef

Moderator
I had a thought, and want to see what you guys think:
We changed our water change bucket not too long ago from a Rubbermaid bin to a rolling 65G garbage pail. Do you think that maybe the garbage pail is the culprit? My husband swears he washed it out, but it's possible that it's the plastic that is no good. I know certain containers leak phosphates, so I'd assume it's possible for them to also carry silicates. Hmmm.....
thoughts?
 

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/384944/diatoms-in-my-established-reef/20#post_3374781
I had a thought, and want to see what you guys think:
We changed our water change bucket not too long ago from a Rubbermaid bin to a rolling 65G garbage pail. Do you think that maybe the garbage pail is the culprit? My husband swears he washed it out, but it's possible that it's the plastic that is no good. I know certain containers leak phosphates, so I'd assume it's possible for them to also carry silicates. Hmmm.....
thoughts?
Did you read the thread on CDMAS about the Brute containers? It very well could be the new can. Switch back to the old one for a while and see if the diatoms go away.
 

nikesb

Active Member
i would not switch back to the old one, might as well get out as much as you can since you'll be using it anyways. itll go away in time
 

spanko

Active Member
One if the biggest single contributors to diatoms is silicate, which is normally introduced by adding sand or disturbing an existing sandbed. Also have you changed water sources recently? Is you DI filter (if you have one) ready to be changed? Also if you are able to get a water analysis from you local water department you can see what the content of silica is in the tap water.
 

btldreef

Moderator
I know it's from silicate, but my filters aren't that old (not brand new either). I think they're at the 4 month mark right about now, too lazy to go look through the calendar. The water here on LI, is really, really good. Many people don't even filter, they just use straight tap with Prime (or similar chemical), even in SPS dominated reefs. I really think it's this damn garbage can, which by the way is a 64G made by Toter Inc.
We went back to our other water change bucket to see if this is it. I have dry rock that needs to be cured for the new tank, so I'm going to throw that in the 64G pail and see what happens. New tanks get diatoms anyways, so it won't bother me as much if I see it then, but it's driving me crazy to see it in this tank.
 

slice

Active Member
wait a minute....
YOU posted this in the NEW HOBBYIST section?!?
GET OFF MY LAWN!

Go back to the Uber Advanced Reefologist section where you belong.
 

btldreef

Moderator
LOL!
I'm not uber advanced!
I actually posted here because I knew it would get the most hits, people ignore the other sections.
 
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