diatoms
- Thread starter rblovell
- Start date
nacl-man
Member
My understanding is that Diatoms are comonly caused by silicates in the water and are more likely to occur when tap water is used. They are also very common for new tanks that have not matured. How long has your tank been set-up and what type of water (RO/DI, store bought) do you use? Normally diatoms will just kinda fade away over time.
Hope this helps.
Cheers.
Hope this helps.
Cheers.
logan15
Active Member
leaving the lights on too long try and cut back sometimes feeding too much and also as Nacl said Tap water has silicates in it which also causes this If you dont have a ro/di system i would suggest you get one I dont use one but Im getting one very soon thank god lol but how long are your lights on?Try and run them 8-10 hours a day
Hope this helps,
Logan
Hope this helps,
Logan
sadlit'lfish
Member
As far as tap water goes, does any one know if a britta filter or something similar reduces silicates or not. Right now an RO is way out of my price range, my LSF sells RO/DI @ $0.25/ gal. though, so I could get by with that for now if a tap filter isn't enough.
nacl-man
Member
Brita filters only remove the smell of chlorine and i think some of the taste... it is my understanding that they don't actually take anything harmful out (just makes the tap water taste better for us humans). I am not 100% sure about that, so you will prob want to wait for a second opinion.
As far as using a Brita for tank water, I don't think you will see any benifit. An inexpensive temporary solution may be to try the tap water filter from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (about $40.00 depending on where you buy it), it isn't the best but I belive it is better than nothing and prob a good temporary solution before you can purchase an RO/DI unit. The only problem is the replacement cartridges for the thing cost about $15.00 and only last a short while... so over time if you continue to use it you will have paid for your RO/DI unit and then some.
Cheers!
As far as using a Brita for tank water, I don't think you will see any benifit. An inexpensive temporary solution may be to try the tap water filter from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (about $40.00 depending on where you buy it), it isn't the best but I belive it is better than nothing and prob a good temporary solution before you can purchase an RO/DI unit. The only problem is the replacement cartridges for the thing cost about $15.00 and only last a short while... so over time if you continue to use it you will have paid for your RO/DI unit and then some.
Cheers!