yet another question

[jws444]

That's very normal, so don't worry about it. The best thing for you to is just wait it out and don't do things to promote it. Diatoms feed on silicates that are present in the original water you used. It will pass once all of its food source is used up, so don't 'help' it by using tap water which contains silicates. Dechlorinating tap water will not remove silicates. If you're short on money, the 'least' you can do is make deionized water. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals makes a deionizing unit for 50-60 bucks and is available even at Big Al's as a last resort. This unit is generally good for 100 gallons and after that you have to replace the media. The 'best' you can do is to use the much talked about ro/di unit. It's about 80-100 US$ from Aquasafe(on ebay) plus 30.00 for shipping and it should give you atleast 1000 gallons from our half decent YVR water source. Using pure water for our tanks is the main reason for this ro/di craze going on currently. It helps because it's so affordable now.