Diatoms

[chopperman]

My tank has been cycling with no livestock and around 40 lbs of LR for about a month now. I noticed a brownish algae starting to accumulate on my LR the other day and today saw it spread to the glass and sand, so I started researching it. It sounds like it is most likely Diatoms, I used tap water to fill the tank a month ago then Primed it and aged water treated with Prime for top ups. I am going to pick up a silicate test to test my supply water. I also did a 75% change on the tank today after I vacuumed the gravel and cleaned some of the glass to hopefully suck out some of the algae so a minimal amount of silicates are dispersed from the dead or leftover algae. Im just curious if anyone has any suggestions if Im addressing this nuissance the right way, or if theres any suggestions before this stuff suffocates my tank before I even stock it.

Adam

[reefwars]

if theres no livestock kill your lights, if it is diatoms it will run its course eventually just takes time, make sure you keep up with your regular maintanance like 10% water changes/week, glass cleaning skimmer cleaning etc. running carbon will also help keep your tanks water clean.

if your amonia is gone and your nitrates are showing consider doing a large water change somewhere in the 40% range and add a clean up crew.....theres lots to choose from like snails,crabs,shrimp just make sure you dont add anything you wont want eaten as food later

[Aquattro]

Turn your lights off for a few days, it will go away on it's own. It certainly won't smother your tank, it's just a normal part of cycling. My 29g biocube just cleared up and my 180 is starting to get patches. No biggie

[chopperman]

I checked the water before and nitrate and ammonia were good my skimmer cup is decent not having any bio load and all. Lights are out we'll just have to see where this goes maybe a couple turbo snails. Did I mention I like SW because it makes you think?

Adam

[chopperman]

Just a quick update, for those that may be interested. I did go ahead and add 5 astrea snails to the tank (one didnt survive, lasted 12 hours) and one Zebra Crab that was given to me. The snails are devouring the brown algae, cleaning up the LR very nice and I am seeing the coraline coming back. Im keeping up on water changes (stocked up on salt during boxing day sales) and things are looking alot better now. I was pretty pumped to see the coraline. I have got 30 more pounds of LR curing in a rubbermaid container. One other question though. When I got this tank, the person before me had used a plenum in the refugium with 4 inches of live sand on top. I left it as is because I was excited to get the tank cycling and now Im second guessing my decision after reading up on it. Does anyone have any opinions on Plenums or using just a DSB. Also, where could one pick up some cheato? Do they sell it at any of the LFS in Calgary?

Adam

[frd72]

Originally Posted by chopperman

I checked the water before and nitrate and ammonia were good my skimmer cup is decent not having any bio load and all. Lights are out we'll just have to see where this goes maybe a couple turbo snails. Did I mention I like SW because it makes you think?

Adam

oh boy, you will be thinking a lot!!!

[JohnnyReeftank]

It sounds like I'm in the same boat as you.....the algae in my tank is brown and hairy but slimey too....is this similar to yours?

[chopperman]

That looks alot thicker and longer than whats in my tank. The algae in my tank is growing mainly on the live rock and glass. It like a thin coating of it

[frd72]

Originally Posted by JohnnyReeftank

It sounds like I'm in the same boat as you.....the algae in my tank is brown and hairy but slimey too....is this similar to yours?

This one i guess looks like dino...
If it is? water change for few days 20-30% at a time and less light..You also have to disturb those algae and siphon it.. That works for me, the cause was Zeovit overdose...Hope this help..