looking like a swamp!

[mnmsea]

We are starting up a new 75 gallon. We have had it up for about two weeks. We have live sand, live rock. I have fish waiting in quarinteen and would like to introduce them soon. But,..... We have a huge brown diatom bloom. It was coating all the sand and rocks. I brush it off and it is back the next day. Today I left the lights off and the water is brown! ugggggh. Any ideas? I tested for silicates and phosphates and negative.

Should I just hope it will pass? Should I put the fish in anyways? Should I get turbos?

Any ideas or thoughts would be great!

[mile sq. reefer]

Let the tank cycle with the lights off. Employ a good skimmer for the sump, and add good random flow all around the tank. Perform a water change using RO/DI water. Also run chemical media, carbon, or Chemi pure. Test the water and make sure the PH, Cal, Alk, and Mag. are at the correct parameters, for example, 8.0-8.2, 8-10alk, 420Cal, 1350 Mag. The reason for the negative test is the phosphate is being used as fast as it is produced to fuel the algae bloom. Some might even tell you to get a Phosban reactor.

[mnmsea]

How long should we leave the lights off?

Should I do daily water changes? 10%? or more??

I will check the other parameters and see what I get. I have carbon in there. I have an urchin protein skimmer.

Where would the phospate be coming from since I have fed very little (I only have a few hermit crabs in there)

Are turbo snails a good idea?

[Kanicky]

Diatoms are completely normal in a new tank. Of course lighting and over-feeding can prolong the bloom, but either way, most if not all new tanks have a diatom bloom in the beginning.

I'd just decrease the lighting, maybe starting with one hour a day and then slowly making your way up in hours.

However, I've never seen the water turn swampy just because of a diatom bloom. I've just seen an infestation of the algae on the glass, rocks and sand. I wouldn't brush it off... just let it run its course.

We thought we were done with diatom algae months ago, but now that we've upgraded to MH's, we've got it all over again. :mad2: Bleh.

[mnmsea]

Yes, we did have a bloom with our last tank. This tank we have MH and actinic...I think the megga light added to the bloom.

With the lights off today, the diatoms seem to be floating more than settled on the rocks. Hence, the swampy appearence.

Tommorrow I will try a couple of hours of actinics and 1 hour MH.

I guess, this too will pass.....then the joys of cyanobacteria??? Uggh ...my other tank was so well established until the lights caught fire and we had to start over! :(