How long does a diatom bloom last?

zero26

zero26

Member
Next week will be a month of my diatom bloom. I have noticed it really starting to wind down, especially on the sand. But I am still getting this floating brown goo stuff that clings to everything, powerheads, overflows rocks and green hair algae. My water parameters are good, phos 0, nitrate 0 too. kicked back the feeding to every other day, feeding mostly frozen, with a bit of pellet.
 
mantisman51

mantisman51

Active Member
Mine lasted 3-4 months off and on, even though the tank had cycled almost a year before I started adding fish and LR and I had very stable water parameters. Even though I was testing 0 on nitrates and phosphate, when I started using ro water, that's about when it quit completely.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
the short and correct answer is anywhere from a month or two to never depending on the tank. for me personally the 9 month mark is about the time I'm done with sand diatoms all together (or in my case this time around the day I siphoned out all the sand from the display and went bare bottom). some people dont mind browned or diatom dusted sand and live with it for ever. I'm not one who would be happy with that. Live rock diatoms shouldn't last more than a month or two as appropriate cleaners (astrea or trochus snails and to a lessor extent cerith) easily make quick work of live rock diatoms and keep it relatively free during and after the bloom. likewise a magfloat is your friend for the glass until the bloom passes. If it hasn't passed completely by the 9 month mark its time to start doing things differently (checking water source, larger water changes, more frequent water changes, GFO, better husbandry, adjusting light cycle or lighting ect...what ever it takes to make it go away)
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Im fighting mine as we speak. Only been running since May so expected it. Been fighting for a month now. Mine isn't as bad as yours on my rocks but my sand looks worst than yours. The snails pretty much keep it off the rocks, i keep the glass clean but the sand is a challenge.
Just did a WC of 5 gallons its a 55 gallon, 5 gallons each week. Hopefully it works, also my ASM skimmer has finally showed signs of life today so that may help.
 
kspops

kspops

Member
My live rock was covered with a brown layer until I picked up some Mexican Turbos. Now I have very little on the rock. The snails are doing a great job.
 
zero26

zero26

Member
I have a ton of clean up crew, 6 turbos 6 astreas, 10 cerith, 15 hermits, dollabella sea hare, 3 peppermint shrimp lawnmower blenney and 6 nassarius and nobody like the green algae.
 
bizzmoneyb

bizzmoneyb

Member
my bloom only lasted about a week. i did a heavy water change a few days after it showed up and it all disappeared like magic
 
mrnewbie

mrnewbie

New Member
My i'm fighting it about 3week so how long does diatom bloom last ? and do i need to do anything to it just leave it along? can some1 give me more info how to get rid of it?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Diatoms are limited by light, food, and silicates.

They don't need much light and are VERY efficient at acquiring food so the only real option is to reduce silicates.



The stuff on your sand bed looks more like Cyanobacter or Dinoflagellates to me.
 
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