# Need help with Diatoms please!



## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

relatively new (6 - 8 weeks) tank, fish are doing great, but the diatoms are driving me nuts! What kind of fish can I add to help keep them down? This is in the 75g mixed cichlid tank :-?


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

Everything turning brown?
Not water cloudiness though, right?

I think that's going to be pretty normal.

I have 2 BN (Ancistrus) Plecos - so far they're not keeping up, but it is a 125Gal tank.

p.s.
a) I think convicts prefer soft/low pH water (they are SA cichlids, not African)
b) I believe 5 bar cichlids are Frontosa's and will A) Not appreciate the tank mates and B) be too large for a 75 gallon tank.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> What kind of fish can I add to help keep them down?


Consider nerite snails. I use them in many tanks.


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## benny71 (Sep 30, 2010)

Glaneon said:


> Everything turning brown?
> Not water cloudiness though, right?
> 
> I think that's going to be pretty normal.
> ...


I don't know about temperament, but I believe 5 bar cichlids are like dwarf Fronts.


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

Glaneon said:


> Everything turning brown?
> Not water cloudiness though, right?
> p.s.
> a) I think convicts prefer soft/low pH water (they are SA cichlids, not African)
> b) I believe 5 bar cichlids are Frontosa's and will A) Not appreciate the tank mates and B) be too large for a 75 gallon tank.


Right, rocks and PFS turning brown, water is clear, also, all fish are juvies, so far, everybody gets along great, have had to move the breeding pair of convicts tho. Eventually, am getting a larger tank which will house the 5 bars


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

I think all you can do is clean the rocks on occasion. You can stir up the PFS and hopefully it will re-settle with the cleaner/white stuff on top.

I'm curious what others may say as well.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Very common with new tanks. Some PFS is silicate based, could be a cause for excess diatom growth.
Low lighting; diatom can grow in very low light, green algae requires higher strength lighting comparatively. 
Actinic bulbs are great for growing green algae, you can also try dosing Phosphate to encourage green algae growth. Given the right conditions, green algae will outgrow and stifle diatom growth, sort of like a healthy lawn will be less ideal for weed growth.
Otocinclus love diatom, however, they can be less than ideal in a cichlid tank, depending on what species you're keeping.


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

I've been reading all over the net and I'm going to start with a sm pleco and some snails, the sharks are starting to take care of the rocks tho


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## ollie78 (Jul 23, 2009)

Usually gone on its own after 6 months for my tanks. I do wipe down the glass during weekly water changes and stir up the substrate. Diatoms eventually go the way of the dinosaur with minor build up after a while.


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## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

I only EVER clean the glass in my tanks.

I've found diatoms do just go away eventually. And the tanks that I've left it alone in tend to get a nice lair of green algae in its place. Not sure if its connected at all.


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## rik01 (Aug 30, 2010)

I had diatoms fully covering all my rocks in my 100 gallon added 2 bristlenose plecos and it was gone completely in 3 days even the holes in my holey rock was white again.


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## rik01 (Aug 30, 2010)

I had diatoms fully covering all my rocks in my 100 gallon added 2 bristlenose plecos and it was gone completely in 3 days even the holes in my holey rock was white again.


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## ZackG (Dec 16, 2010)

Thats the one thing that I hate about PFS, some of it is silicate based and causes CRAZY Diatoms


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

I'm having the opposite problem with my tank 

No algae growing at all, not even diatoms 

My lights are on a timer. Currently, on between 7:30-8:30 AM and then 6-11PM weekdays, and 12noon to 11PM on the weekends.

Between christmas and new year when I was on vacation, I would turn the lights on around noon each day. By the end of the week, I had brown algae. In 4 days this week on the old schedule, it has already died back off pretty much.

The goal is to have green algae on the rocks, so I'm going to up my lights and live through the diatom infestation.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

I have PFS and have had diatoms since a month after setting up tank, going on 2 years now. I can clean the rocks and it just comes back, am dosing with flourish type stuff to see if I can get it to turn green, will see what happens. I do have a bit of green showing on the glass hopefully it spreads. I don't mind the brown but I think the green would look better.

Don't really want to go the pleco route.


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## DrgRcr (Jun 23, 2009)

I also have diatoms in my tanks, the longest up 2 years. That one gets alot less now, and I'm starting to notice some green algae starting to grow on the rocks. In my 125 mbuna tank, set up about 18 months, I am still getting them as well. I recently switched over to HO T5 lighting to try and grow some algae, and now I've noticed the haze on the glass is getting green, so something is happening. I probably need to get reflectors on there to direct the light down better. FWIW, I run all of my lights on a 12 hr on/off schedule.


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

ZackG said:


> Thats the one thing that I hate about PFS, some of it is silicate based and causes CRAZY Diatoms


I agree, mine used to be white, now is brown, yuk! am going to take it out, boil it and use it in a different tank. Right now I'm boiling river sand that I collected today, hopefully my plants will come in the next few days and I can set up the tank again, this has been so frustrating :?


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Not sure I believe the PFS theory, and FWIW I have never seen it on my sand,only rocks and glass.


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## DrgRcr (Jun 23, 2009)

I get them in tanks without PFS too, so it's more than likely the source water is providing some help as well. I did get them on the PFS in the tank with it as well though.


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

well, I tore the tank down, removed the PFS and cleaned everything. Replaced the PFS with river sand (boiled), added my rocks, a few plants and filled it up. The sharks did a great job of cleaning the rocks for me, lol! Will be adding some snails to help with them and any fish waste cuz now with the sand, it will be harder to see the waste on the bottom. :fish:


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

JimA said:


> Not sure I believe the PFS theory, and FWIW I have never seen it on my sand,only rocks and glass.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom
'The use of silicon by diatoms is believed by many researchers to be the key to their ecological success...', '...diatom dominance of mesocosm communities was directly related to the availability of silicic acid Ã¢â‚¬â€


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

JimA said:


> Not sure I believe the PFS theory, and FWIW I have never seen it on my sand,only rocks and glass.


Well, I must have silica based PFS cuz I had it BAD! and it wasn't ON the sand, it was IN the sand



GTZ said:


> however, a silica based substrate will be much more effective at supporting diatom growth. Also, not all PFS or play sand contains silica.


thats great info! It never occured to me to google it, duh . . . lol thx GTZ


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Happy to help, happier when I'm not getting something wrong


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

GTZ said:


> Happy to help, happier when I'm not getting something wrong


 :lol: thats funny


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## ebjdftw (Aug 24, 2010)

i had a brown algae problem and added 3 nerite snails yesterday. they have already cleaned half the rocks. plus they have cool lookin' shells :wink:


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

definitely something to file away for future reference  thx


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

kool blog BTW, love ur Rams, wish mine would pair up


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## limpert (Aug 28, 2007)

prov356 said:


> Consider nerite snails. I use them in many tanks.


Do you use salt to buffer your water? I've wondered how snails would react to salt in the water.


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

I haven't been, but have been reading up on the benefits and was thinking about adding it


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

So after adding flourish for a couple of weeks I am finally seeing some green starting to grow.


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

After tearing down the tank and cleaning everything, no more diatoms, YEA!!!


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

Give it time.


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## 60gallon (Dec 14, 2010)

Just curious if anyone of yall with diatoms have actually tested your tap water / tank water? Not trying to sound like an azz but for everyone saying that PFS causes diatoms, have yall actually done a test to see if PFS can leach silicates or are you just repeating what youve read before?? *** had a diatom problem for several months now in an established tank and im using silicate PFS. I bought a silicate test kit and my PFS is NOT leaching silicates into my tanks water. As a matter of fact, my tap water and tank water (tested it the day of the water change, 2 days into it and 8 days later) have the same level of silicates; 0.03 - 0.1ppm.

I tested for phosphates, silicates, nitrates and as a last resort my lighting. I was using a dual 48" T8 fixture with a 10K bulb and a actinic bulb and as strange as it may seem, the diatoms in my tank were being caused by the actinic lighting. I try to do a water change every Saturday and normally by Thursday there will be some patches of diatoms all over my glass. I did a water change last Saturday and I removed the actinic bulb as was suggested by a fellow member on the other :fish: site. As of today, Sunday, theres no diatoms on my glass. So I suggest anyone with PFS that has a diatom problem check your silicate level, dont assume thats the cause! :thumb:


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