# Diatom?



## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

My tank cycled 2 or 3 weeks ago and it has been 2+ months since I bought the tank. You can see in the pictures below that there's an orange-brown algae (???) in my tank that has started to grow a bit more in the past week. There's not much on the sides of my aquarium but the majority of it grows on the back behind the main rock in the center. I have a fluval light that I keep on about 10 hours a day (day light) and then I put the night light on for 6 or so hours. I shut it off overnight. I want to make sure this is algae and that it's normal. My research leads me to believe that it is diatom algae that is common in newer tanks. Has anyone experienced this?

[img=http://s32.postimg.org/sr24720qt/20160508_231049.jpg]

[img=http://s32.postimg.org/ubptof2o5/20160508_231124.jpg]


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)




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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Very common, just wait it out. It can take several months. Some say BN eat the stuff but mine never do.


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## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

yes i had it badly in my 90 when i moved, never had a problem before at my last house, its the water from what i have read. i played the wait game for 6-7 months,never went away. scrubed them offf during a wc, and vacuumed it up, came right back the next week, bought a common pleco 4" to go with my one oscar,6"+. he loves the stuff, almost all gone...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I had it in all my tanks when new...it's gone now. My BN never ate it.


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

B.Roberson said:


> yes i had it badly in my 90 when i moved, never had a problem before at my last house, its the water from what i have read. i played the wait game for 6-7 months,never went away. scrubed them offf during a wc, and vacuumed it up, came right back the next week, bought a common pleco 4" to go with my one oscar,6"+. he loves the stuff, almost all gone...


Nice. I've been meaning to get a BN pleco for a while. I like the fact that they don't get larger than 6 inches. I'll try to get one this week and let you guys know how it goes.


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## dledinger (Mar 20, 2013)

That's not bad yet....you'll know when it is!

I'd go with a rubberlip if you want something to eat it, but one day you'll look in there and it will be gone. I have a very bright living room, so sometimes I put a piece of very dark window tint on the end of a tank. It helps immensely.


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## Aquariguns (Jan 15, 2015)

I have a couple of BN plecos and a couple rubberlips, working together they keep my tanks super clean. It sounds like you are keeping the lights at a low run time, and if keeping up on good big water changes that should also keep the growth down as well. In time it does go away but the plecos are worth a shot in the mean time. good luck!


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

Aquariguns said:


> I have a couple of BN plecos and a couple rubberlips, working together they keep my tanks super clean. It sounds like you are keeping the lights at a low run time, and if keeping up on good big water changes that should also keep the growth down as well. In time it does go away but the plecos are worth a shot in the mean time. good luck!


Thanks for the info. Yea, I'm definitely going to get 1 Rubberlip and 1 BN. I do 50% water changes every 7 or 8 days. I noticed at my LFS that the plecos are very small. They're probably the size of a fingertip. What size pleco will start cleaning a good surface area right away?


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

I had one BN pleco in my 240 for a long time. He did a pretty good job of keeping the tank clean, as you can tell by the pics. One in a 240 is not enough though, he's gone now also. I just live with diatoms now, mine go green then back to brown and green again. I think it makes the tank more natural looking.







They start eating pretty much right away, and grow pretty quick.


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

JimA said:


> I had one BN pleco in my 240 for a long time. He did a pretty good job of keeping the tank clean, as you can tell by the pics. One in a 240 is not enough though, he's gone now also. I just live with diatoms now, mine go green then back to brown and green again. I think it makes the tank more natural looking.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't mind the algae on the rocks but it looks terrible when it's on the sides of the tank. My fluval hose is directed towards the back of the tank and I noticed today that there's a long streak of diatom algae in the shape of how the hose sprays the water into the tank. It's about 12-15 inches in length.

How come you don't have any plecos in your tank anymore?


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

After that one died I just didn't get another. My glass stays really clean for the most part anyway, the front will turn green towards the later part of the week when I do a water change, so I just wipe it down. He never cleaned the glass, just stayed to the rocks.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Here's a shot of the tank, you can see where the diatoms have started on the new rock in the center. On the other rocks and some of the background it's a dark brown that will turn green off and on. And some just stays green with algae and the fish munch on it..


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

Wow. That's nice. I bought a BN and a RL yesterday. The RL is going to town already.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

aausa1983 said:


> Wow. That's nice. I bought a BN and a RL yesterday. The RL is going to town already.


 Thank you! And yes they do quick work. If they start running out of things to clean you might pick up some algae wafers, the fish will like them as well. Just not too much at once.


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

JimA said:


> aausa1983 said:
> 
> 
> > Wow. That's nice. I bought a BN and a RL yesterday. The RL is going to town already.
> ...


What are your tank specs? What stock do you have?


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

It's a 8ft 240 gallon. With around 50 Kasanga Tropheus, going on 6 or 7 years now.


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## grimble64 (May 31, 2016)

if my tank runs out of diatom,i put in cucumber for the plec'


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

grimble64 said:


> if my tank runs out of diatom,i put in cucumber for the plec'


Do you just cut a thin slice of cucumber and drop it in? My pleco is in his own little world. He pays no attention at feeding time. I'm not sure he would get a chance with my cichlids.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The bristlenose will eat regular fish food (if hungry they will compete).


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## dledinger (Mar 20, 2013)

With a bristlenose and an RL in a 240 I'd probably just leave the lights on longer if they run out of food. I've never been able to turn a pleco on to vegetables or algae wafers. All have eaten fish food when hungry, however.


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## millahjovich (Jun 14, 2016)

I had it in all my tanks when new...it's gone now. My BN never ate it.


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

Update - after a month or maybe two of the diatom, it went away. I didn't have to do anything special besides the 2 plecos and water changes every 7-10 days. There are still traces here and there but it's easy to clean with my floating aquarium cleaner.


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## FishMaster43 (Feb 20, 2015)

I experience this in every new tank i set up, it does eventually go away but can take some time, If you have used sand with a content of silica in it this will cause the diatoms to grow and you will have to wait until the silica is exhausted, this will depend on how deep the sand is. I have found using around four BN in a 400L tank they will keep it free of diatoms, good luck.


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## aausa1983 (Apr 6, 2016)

FishMaster43 said:


> I experience this in every new tank i set up, it does eventually go away but can take some time, If you have used sand with a content of silica in it this will cause the diatoms to grow and you will have to wait until the silica is exhausted, this will depend on how deep the sand is. I have found using around four BN in a 400L tank they will keep it free of diatoms, good luck.


Yea, I have a 65g and the two BN I bought are still small yet took care of the job.


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