Diatom problem

[gokalp]

Hello

I have diatom on the rocks and sand since 1st install that is 6 months. Previously nitrates was 20 and now 40 ppm. ph 8.3, kh over 8. I have 55w t5 actinic, 30w daylight and 30w actinic. I also use karbon and seachem phosguard since 1-2 months. I also use a chiller which causes less evoparation. Since 1-2 months it is better but still present. My skimmer is ATI bubble master since 3 months. My aquarium is around 400 lt. I use osmos water which has an conductivity of 13 usiemens. I do not have phosphats and silikates in my aquarium water and osmos water. But I really wonder can there be some other ions in the osmos water causing diatoms. I bought a silicate filter without making a test, so I did not connect it to osmos water outlet. But right now I think of using it beacuse it will decrease conductivity of osmos outlet to around 1-2 usiemens. What are your suggestions? I am sick of this problem. Note there are nobioballs or other nitrate causing products in my sump.

Thanks

Gökalp

 

[jay24k]

Silicates won't cause a diatom break out. Just give the tank some time and make sure you have good flow. A good cleanup crew and patience will make it go away.

 

[IslandCrow]

Silicates probably won't cause an outbreak by themselves, but diatoms do take up silica, and excessive diatoms usually are an indication of high levels of silicates in the water. . .or so have I been told by some very reliable sources.
Granted I didn't have a huge diatom problem, but my red legged hermit crabs did a very good job on the diatoms I had in the nano tank I just set up. Sand sifting sea cucumbers are very helpful as well.
It sounds like you're using RO water. Do you have your own purifyier, an if so, can you add a dionization (DI) phase to it? Diatoms are very typical in a new tank, and yours may go away on their own eventually, but 6 months does certainly sound like a rather long time.

 

[Anonymous]

If the sand and rocks were not "live" then they may take more time to establish.

How much waterflow do you have in the tank?

The more flow the better.

Skim wet and add some carbon and Rowaphos. There are probably silicates and phos in the water but the diatoms are consuming them and you get a false negative reading.

 

[jay24k]

Well if you read some of Randy's articles, he tested putting silicates directly in the water and it had no relation to diatoms. I originally thought the same but he was saying how it is still a nutrient issue and the presence of diatoms do not have an indication on silicates. I'm not a chemist so I'm just goingi by what the expert says.

 

[Anonymous]

Kill the lights if you don't need them right now.

 

[IslandCrow]

I haven't read that article, jay24k. Is it in the Advanced Aquarist archives. I know I've read other articles by Randy and others that have said that diatoms were an indication of the presence of silicates, so I'd certainly be interested in reading the article you're referring to. It may very well be more up to date information.