Diatom bloom producing oxegen?

AdamsB · #1 02-20-2013, 09:58 PM

So my tank is undergoing a diatom bloom at the minute. And my light is at the peak output for the day (LED daylight cycle) I noticed a lot of little bubbles rising from the sand bed. They appear to be coming from the diatoms. Is this an issue or all part of the process?

monocus · #2 02-20-2013, 10:11 PM

all part of the process

FragIt Dan · #3 02-20-2013, 10:18 PM

All part of the process. These are the metabolic gases produced by the diatoms. Are you using RO water? If not, you may be feeding them. If things continue or worsen you may want to look into an RO system,
Dan

AdamsB · #4 02-20-2013, 11:25 PM

I'm using RO/DI and fluval salt. My clean up crew I arriving tomorrow so I should have everything wiped up pretty quickly

paddyob · #5 02-20-2013, 11:45 PM

I thought it was something other than oxygen....

subman · #6 02-20-2013, 11:55 PM

I assuming it's a new tank and new sand. Diatoms bloom in the presence of silicates usually released from new sand. I thought I read once it was co2 bubbles, but it will pass soon either way

FragIt Dan · #7 02-21-2013, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by subman

I assuming it's a new tank and new sand. Diatoms bloom in the presence of silicates usually released from new sand. I thought I read once it was co2 bubbles, but it will pass soon either way

I think it would be Oxygen during the day (byproduct of photosynthesis) and Carbon Dioxide at night (byproduct of respiration). Incidentally the shift between these two processes when your lights go on/off is what causes the day/night pH cycle as a result of changing the equilibrium point for CO2 and carbonates in your tank water.

Dan

Myka · #8 02-21-2013, 01:16 PM

The first thought that runs through my head when people say "diatoms" and "bubbles" in the same sentence is dinoflagellates. I'm not familiar with your tank as it sounds like some of the above posters are, it sounds like maybe your tank is still cycling, or it is still really young? If the tank is super young it would be unlikely that dinos would already be a problem, but it's something you may want to look into. Also, keep in mind that if they are indeed just diatoms (be glad it's not dinos haha) that you want to double check your "nutrients in" (feeding, source water, etc) and make sure the diatoms don't persist for more than about 10 days or they will certainly continue into more noxious algae.

Dinoflagellates:

allie_san · #9 02-21-2013, 01:27 PM

My tank is about 5 weeks old now and it's been going through the same process for about a week and a half. I assumed it was normal after doing some reading..Brown algae over the sand.. Some air bubbles rising and a bunch still trapped under sand.

I also noticed some little hairy green algae growing on the walls, not sure if that's something I should be concerned about?

Myka · #10 02-21-2013, 01:55 PM

Ok, not likely to be dinos, that's good. Diatoms are expected when starting up a new tank, but if you don't control nutrients from the get go you will run into further algae problems like the green hair algae you have sprouting up now.

Do you have any livestock in the tank yet? Have you tested nitrate and phosphate? If so, which test kits? Are you using any sort of nutrient control products like GFO or biopellets?