Diatom Question

Sawdonkey

Sawdonkey

Premium member
I am having a pretty constant diatom issue that has been going on for many months. It doesn't really impact my tank except for making my sand look bad. I can vacuum it up and it is gone for about a day and it comes back. It is not cyano, because it is dusty and not a mat. It is not dinos because it isn't slimy. It is just a reddish/ brown dust. My tank has been running for a year and a half, but almost all of the live rock was transferred from my old tank that I had for many years.

I think the issue may be related to my biopellets? Has anyone heard of this?

The other thought is that I have not changed my di resin for nearly a year. My tds meter reads zero, but is it possible that I'm putting silicates in my tank with every topoff and water change? Anyway, I just changed my di resin.

My current parameters are below in my signature line. I'm curious what you guys think about the cause and solution to this is?
 
Sawdonkey said:
Nobody's dealt with diatoms on an established tank before?
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Have you recently made any changes such as adding equipment? A lot of the time when you add a new plastic piece to the tank or a new piece of equipment you can get a small bloom from assembly oils and other contaminants.
 
SkullV said:
Have you recently made any changes such as adding equipment? A lot of the time when you add a new plastic piece to the tank or a new piece of equipment you can get a small bloom from assembly oils and other contaminants.
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No, this has been going on for at least eight months to ten months. I believe it started shortly after starting up my biopellets. Nothing really new exempt wp40s.

It only grows on my sand, so it's not a problem except for the fact that it looks bad and I have to vacuum it up every few days.
 
Try dosing MicroBacter7. Many people have issues with various diatom/cyano blooms with carbon dosing and it is often remedied by Microbacter.
 
SkullV said:
Try dosing MicroBacter7. Many people have issues with various diatom/cyano blooms with carbon dosing and it is often remedied by Microbacter.
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I was thinking about something like this. I don't know much about this product, but I will begin my research this weekend. Thanks.
 
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