Diatom help.

[SirReefalot]

Hello everyone,

I have been having problems in my 120G DT with some diatoms blooming over a few of my rocks over the past 2 months. Water levels: 0 nitrite 5ppm nitrate 0 phosphate PH 8.4 calc 420 salinity 1.26 for the first 2 hours after my lights turn on all the diatoms are gone but by 3 hours with my lights on they are in full bloom. Can it be my bulbs? They are about 4 months old. I run 2 400W 20K MH for 8 hours a day and blue reef brights for 4 hours at night. Doesn't seem to have any effect on any of my coral or fish just looks nasty. Any help is appreciated and thank you in advanced!

 

[timberwolfny]

skim wet feed lite lower photo period and it will burn itself out. had the same problem recently and also no water changes

 

[SirReefalot]

Hey thanx for the reply. Skim wet? I try to feed as little as possible and how much should I cut my lights back? Will it effect my corals growth? Can I run my blue lights more then? Or total darkness is needed?

 

[SirReefalot]

And no water changes?

 

[timberwolfny]

when you change water it somehow feeds the the diatom cutting the photo period for the MH for a few hours skimming wets means increase the water level a tad bit higher on your skimmer so that the skimate overflows a little easier ex the skimate is a little lighter in color than your usual skim mate and cleaning up any dentritus in your tank

 

[timberwolfny]

what other equipment are you running and do you dose anything?

 

[SirReefalot]

I run GFO and carbon and I dose esv alk and calc.

 

[jackson6745]

Kill it off biologically. This is very effective at cleaning cyano, diatom, and dinos.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

kill it off biologically. This is very effective at cleaning cyano, diatom, and dinos.

+1 follow directions and within 6 weeks you should be good.