Diatoms!!

[thirty6]

check my thread, just constant water changes, gfo changes, reduced feeding, removed sandbed, start a fuge, cleaned SUMP completely.



if u had poor habits for 2 years before starting GFO, it can definitely take a while to fix some of the problems. You could also try dosing special blend.

did you remove sandbed completely? curious as i havent made up my mind on bb or sand yet

 

[piranhapat]

Are you running any kind of carbon with GFO? If not start running them in a reactor or water goes threw carbon. Second by moving sand and doing more water changes is why your Diatom keeps coming back. You want Bacteria so it will aid in balancing your tank to help with Diatoms. That's why aging tank has more Bacteria in its system that controls Diatom. But too much even in old tank can cause Diatom bloom. Adding Bacteria in bottle is another good ideal to help establish Bacteria in tank. If you still want to change your water. Which you shouldn't ! Them buy the saltwater that is already made in those 4 gallons jugs that LFS carry. That has Bacteria in the water already. Hope this helps,,,,,

 

[Awibrandy]

I would just continue the regimen that you have been doing til now, and not expect miracles. I'm sure things didn't go south over night, so we can't expect the problems to be solved overnight.
Just a thought here; where did you get the rocks from? Were they cured lr out of someone's tank, lfs, online vendor? Did you purge the rock before you set it in to your tank?
I had a similar issue back in 07. My rocks, and my gf's rocks had stewed in tab water for over 7 years collecting all the P04 that it could. One I set up the 155 with all that old rock it took a very long time for all that mess to leach out of them. In the mean time I kept up with weekly ro/di w/c, gfo, gac in reactors. BTW, I use BRS reactors, gfo & gac.

 

[thirty5]

I still do not believe the hype with the pre-mixed saltwater? How does it say alive in the bottle? We all know that we need to feed our tanks even during a cycle to keep the bacteria alive, or when a tank is fallow need to feed it. Also most of your bacteria is in your filtration, not in your water column.

Just continue with water changes, it is not going to effect anything and decrease your filtration. Make sure that your test kits are functioning properly. I think i read that you are using RO water, hopefully you have a TDS meter on it. If not get a small handheld one that you can buy at Target.

I do not agree with mixing up the sand, that may cause you to go through a cycle.

Get a CUC and check your levels including TDS and Phosphates? Do you have a Fuge, are you growing Macro?

 

[Mike389]

I have a fuge with chaeto and mangroves and some form of culerpa.... My rocks are cured from a fish store and some from a friend...

 

[JonnyJ]

36, I stayed BB for a while but eventually added sand again. The day i added sand i did a 50% water chage and the day after everything went away. All hair algae and all diatoms gone... No clue. Lol

But during that time I was doing everything possible to remove.