Diatoms / Shallow sand bed maintenance

[bignose]

I had a similar problem in my last tank. I just sucked up the bad areas and over time it went away. My tank was around 5 months old when it happened and it took a couple of months to clear up.

[lastlight]

Do you mean you sucked up the film of algae or the actual sand in that area as well?

I'm also wondering with a shallow sand bed if it's ok to vacuum the sand (siphon tube inserted until you touch glass and just suck debris out) like one would do with gravel in a FW setup.

[kien]

Sounds normal. I've had diatoms with every tank that I've set up.

I usually just let it be. It dies off eventually. It is unsightly and I suppose you could stirr your shallow sand bed (I used to do that but didn't really help). Again, it will typically go away on it's own as your tank matures.

[lastlight]

Thanks guys.

So it is ok to stir/vacuum the sandbed if I do want to?

It's still a useless exercise as all the fish poo etc is heavier than much of the finer sand particles. Friggin' sand.

[zum14]

Tagging along. Im having the same problem. I was kind of putting it towards nutrient problem (I still have a bit of a phosphate issue, working on it) but interested in hearing the opinions.

[fishytime]

Diatoms are usually caused by one of three things........excess nutrients, either from over feeding or from die-off from a new tank cycle........old bulbs can sometimes cause an "outbreak" as the color temperature drops with bulb usage.....or it could lack of flow, diatoms tend to take hold in areas of low flow.........all relatively easy fixes..... or you could pick up some "coral snow" to treat the symptoms....

[soapy]

As I understand it Diatoms require a combination of excess nutrients and silica to thrive. Once they burn through the silica in your tank they will wane. Of course then if you still have a lot of waste in the system you will start to see cyanobacteria or algae.