Diatoms driving me insane!

Greenman

Reefing newb
Trying to figure out what is causing my Diatom Outbreak. Its so bad that if I scrub my tank when I get home from work (live rock, sand and glass). The next day when i get home the entire sand bed, part of the glass and rock is completly brown. Even though its simple to remove because the stuff is like dust its still highly annoying.
 
How long has this system been setup? Diatoms could also come from using regular tap water and/ or the type of food you feed the tank( flakes/ pellets).
 
about 2 years, and I've used pellets almost the whole time. I recently changed from crushed coral to sand but I didnt think it would cause this big of a spike.
 
How recently? Stirring up the coral/sand to take it out would definitely cause a spike. If anything, your tank is probably cycling again. We need more info in this thread as to what you've tried, what your parameters are, your stocking, how often you feed, etc. Try switching to frozen for a while, and up your water changes. I feed my fish pellets, but only as a treat once in a while. They're fed primarily different frozen foods.

Not sure if you had another thread on this, but it we could help better if you put everything in one page.
 
Perams are close to perfect. 8.2 ph 5 nitrates 0 nitrites 0 ammonia. Changed the sub about 3 weeks ago. I feed once a day.
 
Did you have this diatom problem before changing out the substrate? Because it does sound like you're going through new tank syndrome..

Maybe try to do daily water changes after you scrub down the tank and suction up whatever algae you can get out. You can also try running carbon, I think. That might help.
 
Just added Carbon a few days ago so waitin on the results of that. I can try to vacume the diatoms insted. I went ahead and bought a cleanup crew yesturday so Im waiting on that as well.
 
You've picked up some silicates from somewhere. Either the new substrate or the water.
The silicates are what fuels the diatoms. They use it for their shell. Once the silicates are gone, the diatoms will die off.
 
It may be my water, I've been looking at investing in an RO machine but havnt had the funds. I guess I can stop using Tap water and buy water from the store. My LFS doesnt offer RO or i'd go that way.
 
It may be my water, I've been looking at investing in an RO machine but havnt had the funds. I guess I can stop using Tap water and buy water from the store. My LFS doesnt offer RO or i'd go that way.

I'd say that's your problem.

I used to get my water from the RO/UV machine they have at our local Wally World. It was like 25 or 30 cents a gallon. Of course that's gonna add up in cost to, especially when you figure in the cost of going to get it.
 
Tap has minerals and metals that don't show up in our tests. I suggest you get distilled water from Walmart, or just go ahead and get an RODI.
 
It's probably the substrate change, but to quote another person, you're keeping water in this hobby, not animals. Time and time again people will spend thousands of dollars on equipment like fancy tanks, protein skimmers, reactors, lights, powerheads and pumps, etc. only to compromise everything by running tap water.

You can have a RODI up and running for less than $200, cheaper if you're willing to buy a used one and picking up some new cartridges. With the right adapter you can easily hook it up to a faucet and never have to tap into your pipes. Then it's a matter of watching your TDS meters and staying on top of those cartridges every several months.

You might be fine with tap water, but being able to check the TDS meter coming out of the RODI and seeing 0 solves half your problems. Knowing that the source water is not the issue lets you know it has to be something else downstream; excess food, something in your storage container, something dying, etc.

Always a great investment if you intend to stick with the hobby.
 
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