why do i still have crazy diatoms

d2mini

Reef enthusiast
I can put something in my tank and if it sits in one place is has diatoms hanging from hit within the hour. WTF? When does this stuff go away? Do I need a better skimmer? This doesn't seem like a phase anymore. :grumble:
 
There isnt much you can do about it. Its one of those things that come and go. Water changes is just about the only advice i can give you.
 
How long has you tank been up? My tank usually take about 6 months sometimes a bit more before it really clears up. Flow and water changes do go a long way.
 
It's 5 months old.
Weekly 10% water changes. Well almost. Had to skip this week.
And I have tons of flow. In fact the side of my tank with more flow has more algae problems.
 
Sounds like it just needs more time. When I first started I almost quite because it took forever to go away. I tried everything to get rid of it. FInally it just went away and never came back. Just keep up with maintenance and give it some more time.
 
How old is the DI resin in your RO filter? If the resin is old, silicates can get thru and diatoms feed on silicates.
 
Testing for phos doesn't really do much since the algae usually eats it all before you can test for it.
 
We have a whole house Hague water softener thing which helps and then the TDS meter is hooked up after the first few stages of my RO before the last stage.
 
What sort of reef janitors do you have? You may want to add some some diatom-eating snails to your tank. Two that come to mind are the Nerite snail and the Cerith Snail.
 
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