diatoms again.

[stephen sykes]

got diatoms/cyno again. golden brown in colour, can be wafted off live rock/sand with a turkey baster. this is the second time since october (thats when i set the tank up) that i've had them. is this normal and is there anything i can do to be rid of them? phos levels are really low.

[papagimp]

It's normal to have the initial phases of cyno/diatoms but a reoccurance this long afterwards would indicate other problems. Phosphate is the first thing I look at, how "low" are the levels, anything detectable on a standard test kit isn't good IMO. Just a smidge can fuel algae. Nitrate levels in your tank sitting where?
How much flow? Type of filtration in the tank? How much rock/sand, ect. ect. Anything you can tell us about the tank currently may help.

[stephen sykes]

1800 liters p/h turn over. rowaphos, carbon, purigen, filter floss in chamber 1. pumps in chamber 2 and 3. nitrate 0. stay with me and i'll post a picture.

[papagimp]

flow sounds fine (we are talking about the 24g nano right?)

Now, another thought to consider here, nitrates can be 0 even with massive algae blooms. Algae will use the nitrate and your reading may be 0 but there is enough daily addition of nitrate to fuel the algae. May want to pull and clean all thos filter medias. Once carbon, purigen i think, and phosphate removers are "full" they'll leech the stuff right back into the water.

[stephen sykes]

this is what im up against!!


http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/ddd_099/Picture252.jpg

[stephen sykes]

anyone???????????

[stephen sykes]

i've got some anti-red, should i put some in??

[volk23]

i think you need to add another powerhead in there for sure.

how long did it take to get this bad?

[stephen sykes]

if i waft it all away, its back within 2 days.

[volk23]

feed less and add another powerhead

[stephen sykes]

i've now took the circulator off and the flow is blasting down the front of the glass and right onto that brown spot on the gravel. if i added another powr head the fish would feel like their in a washing machine!!

[kevin2000]

That looks like cyano not diatoms.

If you have cyano then you have excess nutrients .. primarily phosphates. While your phosphate test kit may say you don't have phosphates .. remember that its only measuring whats in the water column at that moment .. your cyano is sucking the phosphates out of the water column just like a phosphate sponge .

In general you want to maximize the exports of phosphates while limiting the import of phosphates.

Std measure to control phosphate include water changes using RO water, use a phosphate binder (phosban etc), wet skimming, reduce feeding and make sure the food your using doesn't have alot of phosphates .. flake food is loaded with phosphates - frozen food should be thawed and rinsed before using, clean filter media daily, kalkwasser to precipitate phosphates, and use of macro alga's to compete for the phosphates. Manual removal of cyano will remove the phosphates within the cyano.

Unless cyano is smothering corals its not going to harm anything .. if you want you can view it as an inexpensive phosphate sponge .. let it grow and just siphon it out removing the cyano and the phosphates with it.

Edit

Most cyano threads bring up water flow as a cure .. thats only important in the context that high flow helps deny nutrients and allows the skimmers/filters to remove crud that would otherwise release phosphates. Cyano itself doesn't care about water flow .. blowing around the cyano bacteria isn't going to resolve the problem.

[stephen sykes]

i do 20% water changes every 2 weeks using ro water. should i start doing 10% weekly and syphoning as much out as i can till it goes?

[volk23]

siphoning it out is not gonna solve the problem. thats only a temporary solution, i think you should add another power head, feed the tank less.

[kevin2000]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10227222#post10227222 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by volk23
siphoning it out is not gonna solve the problem.
Cyano boils down to a phosphate issue. Phosphates (one of those fundamental building blocks/can't live without it things) is easy to put into the tank .. but tough to remove. The fundamental solution to phosphate issues requires you to remove the phosphate as well as try and reduce the amt. that goes into the tank. Removing the phosphate laden cyano is an important step in removing the phosphate - how quick you do it may be debatable but manual removal is an important step.

[kevin2000]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10227190#post10227190 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stephen sykes
i do 20% water changes every 2 weeks using ro water. should i start doing 10% weekly and siphoning as much out as i can till it goes?
No correct answer to you question ... but your question implies that you think minor water changes are better than larger ones. So long as your using properly aged SW that has the right temperature you can make major water changes anytime you want.

Water changes help export phosphates .. just like skimming, filter cleaning, macro algae etc. Also focus on limiting importing phosphates.

Also ... remember that phosphate build up slowly in a tank .. the solution may be equally slow.

[stephen sykes]

i have 2 clowns, 1 goby, hermits, snails, starfish. i feed them mysis shrimp once a day. i cut one cube in to quaters and 1 quarter lasts for 2 days. am i feeding too much?

[kevin2000]

I have no clue how large your cube is so I can't answer. You have 3 small fish and they don't take much food. When I feed my fish I place enough food in the tank for them to feed for about 30 seconds (compared to the 3 minutes you read in some books). Aslo note that you should not feed the clean up crew (kinda defeats the purpose of having a clean up crew).

Make sure you thaw and rinse your frozen cube before you feed your fish .. it will help remove phosphates and other nutrients that are suspended in the frozen water (just nutrients that will feed algae's but not the fish).

[stephen sykes]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10227675#post10227675 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kevin2000
Make sure you thaw and rinse your frozen cube before you feed your fish .. it will help remove phosphates and other nutrients that are suspended in the frozen water (just nutrients that will feed algae's but not the fish).

how do i do this??

[kevin2000]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10227726#post10227726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stephen sykes
how do i do this??
I place my frozen food within a brine shrimp capture net (just a very fine fish net) and then I run tap water through the net allowing the frozen food to thaw and rinse away the excess nutrients. Some use RO water to rinse their frozen but I think thats a bit much and not needed. Lots of methods but the key is to rinse away the frozen water.

You can pick up a brine shrimp net a Petsmart for a couple bucks.