Diatoms help please.

[jason604]

What I did when my diatom went nuts was take a hard tip toothbrush and rubber band it to a stick and rub it across my rock/sand/glass and the algae just sticks right to it. Then just take brush out n wiggle in a bucket of water. Might take long but it helps. Soon it will stabilize. Getting a sifter fish helps a ton for dirty sand.

[mrhasan]

Are you using tap water?

[SteveCGY]

No I was using demineralized bottled water from sobeys

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by SteveCGY

No I was using demineralized bottled water from sobeys

You might be better off getting RODI water from concept. Many thinks that diatom = nutrient but actually, silicate is the main culprit for diatoms. That's what feeds the diatom; nutrients can play some role but if you not having hair algae and only diatom, that means your tank has silicate. While starting the tank, the sand tends to release some into the water but it goes away within a month as you change water and the silicate depletes. No snails can out compete diatom if there's silicate in the water. They can eradicate it if sand is the only source but if its water, you gotta repair that yourself. You might wanna test the TDS of the water you are putting in. If TDS is something like 10+, that might be the silicate source.

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by SteveCGY

No I was using demineralized bottled water from sobeys

What???
Your better off using water from those u full places like Canadian Springs. Just do water changes for now and don't fiddle in your tank.