Help! Evil Diatoms!!!

kleinn

kleinn

Member
I clean off this thin layer of brownish-reddish-greenish algae stuff (assuming its diatoms, based on everything I've read) from my tank glass every afternoon, and by afternoon the next day they have covered the glass again. It's a new 20 gallon (21 days old) and I didn't use any tap water to fill it. Ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, nitrates are down to a little less than 20ppm. I have done 3 10% water changes over the past week. Last week I starting skimming with a brand new skimmer. I added a Rio 600 ph for flow two days ago. ALSO I added a phos-pad anti-silicate/anti-phosphate filter packet to my filter and STILL the crap grows on my glass like crazy! WHAT SHOULD I DO?! And also, should I hold off on coral until I get this under control?
 
zoie2

zoie2

Active Member
I'm new, started a 12 gal. in Dec. I personally would hold off on getting corals. My readings were about the same as yours at the same time and I thought my tank had cycled. I was going to give it another week and I'm glad it did because I had a 2nd spike in all my readings. I also had a diatoms bloom and it cleared up on it's own. I did get 2 hermit crabs and 2 turbo snails about 4 weeks into my cycle because I started to get hair algae. My tank finished it's cycle at about 6 weeks. I waited another week to add my coral. I added my first fish at 8 weeks. All are doing good.
Good luck!!
 
nemo's mom

nemo's mom

Member
If your tank is only 21 days old it's cycling. Quit doing water changes and it should go away on its own. You should see an ammonia spike and then your nitrates should go down without you doing water changes. One day you will walk in and the algae will be gone...that's likely when your tank is done cycling. Your initial cycle could last 6-8 weeks. By doing constant water changes you;re throwing off the initl bacteria growth I believe....Patience is what you need at this point....
 
kleinn

kleinn

Member
Thanks.
I know that it's possible that the tank hasn't cycled yet, so I should wait I suppose, but I fed the tank a ton of frozen brine shrimp the first two days. Then I added a blue damsel on day three. I just started skimming a few days ago. I didn't start doing water changes until my nitrates started climbing above 40 ppm (a week ago). I have 27lbs of LR that spent a total of 5 mins in transit from the parent tank, and 20lbs of LS right out of the bag. Is it likely that this tank could read like this if it hasn't cycled already? Granted, I was using a really old test kit for the first several days, but I'm using brand new tests now. In an earlier post I was told that it was likely the tank cycled already, and a buddy of mine who does pro tank services said that it has likely already cycled also. Does this aglae problem mean it likely hasn't cycled? What is the connection between algae, the cycle, and the readings I'm getting?
I understand the basics of the cycle (I had some pretty complicated FW systems for several years), but I don't understand the biology of SW algae and alagal diatoms well enough to "get" this.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Definitely hold off on corals.As stated before, the diatoms will clear up on their own.I don't think their are any cleanup crews they will take care of diatoms. :thinking:
 
kleinn

kleinn

Member
Thanks alyssia. Waiting is always the smart choice I guess (can you tell I'm excited about coral?
) How long before the diatoms go away? Does anyone have any good ref. sources about diatom biology? I understand they need silicates, but what else?
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
I THINK it took a couple of weeks for my diatoms to go away. And like you, I kept cleaning them off and they would come right back.
I know what it's like to be anxious, I was dying to add some corals and fish!!!
Try to be patient, if you add them too quickly you may end up regretting it..as I did.
 
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