Another diatom question

[sluggerdood]

me and my brother in law set up a 90 gallon tank a month ago ... at first he had tons of brown diatoms then they started growing in to little fern looking plants.after they popped up everything has had a green layer over it . i can clean it off the glass and 5 hours later the green will come back.when i clean it off it looks like powder has 80 lbs of live rock and 80 lbs of dead rock. whats up with it?

 

[marcah]

although cleaning that dust algae off the glass is routine ( not liked of course) if it is appearing that quickly sounds like it could be high nutrient levels in the tank, check phosphate levels and nitrate.. we all have to clean that dust algae off every couple to few days and it is a good source of food for corals...:D

 

[Salty B]

+1. Pics would help. What is the source of the water?

 

[sluggerdood]

i dont think you guys are understanding how thick and fast it builds up ... its only in the display tank not his sump. the pictures i will post are only 4 hours of build up..if it is that there are excess nutrients how could i fix this

 

[BL1]

A good skimmer and water changes will get rid of the excess nutrients. How old are the bulbs on his tank?

 

[sluggerdood]

A good skimmer and water changes will get rid of the excess nutrients. How old are the bulbs on his tank?

theres a good skimmer on the tank takes out two cups of black nasty skimmate a day..bulbs are brand new. theres two 175 watt metal halides and two actinic power compacts

 

[BL1]

What's the stock in the tank and how often/large are the water changes?

 

[sluggerdood]

nothing in the tank but the clean up crew just finished its cycle so ... water changes every two weeks

 

[BL1]

Well if the cycle just ended then it sounds like completely normal post-cycle algae growth. Continue to skim heavily and 10g water changes every week or 20g changes every 2 weeks and he should see the algae growth steadily decrease in the next month or two.

 

[Ulta]

Nobody said whether or not your using tap water in your tank...

 

[Salty B]

+1 Ulta.

 

[marcah]

without having anything in the tank that require pristine water like nems or corals tap water is fine to use... with just ending his cycle and only a cleanup crew in it I think brian is right..

 

[sluggerdood]

Nobody said whether or not your using tap water in your tank...

i have used tap water in tanks of my own and never had a problem this bad