# Fed up with diatoms



## Null Zero (11 Sep 2018)

I am at the end of my tether with diatoms infesting all my plants and the tank glass. This is not even a new tank, with the tank being setup in 2016 January.  I did have an initial infestation that was smothering my plants, but it did go away in a couple of months. I did a light out for 2 days to fully remove it and bought an entirely new bunch of plants as all my plants died along with the brown algae. 

It did not come back till January this year, when I came back from a short trip, only to find my Eheim 2217s inlet blocked, resulting in the filter not working and saw everything covered with brown diatoms. Needless to say i cleaned the filter thoroughly and reinstalled it. 

Since then it has been a CONSTANT struggle with diatoms. Nothing I do seems to kill it or even reduce its density.  Two days of normal lighting (4*T5HO + 1 22W LED) easily brings back it back with a vengeance, despite meticulously manually cleaning (backbreaking work) every leaf surface and tank wall as I could possibly do. 

Basically, the cycle is this. I clean the leaves and remove the ones beyond repair. Change the water 50% in the futile hope of it going away. But its always back. Even within 8 hours i can already see the browning of leaves and the slimy brown stuff everywhere. It smothers my plants and chokes everything. 

I am at the point where I want to use chemicals to nuke it. Water changes, tank maintenance, scrubbing plants and everything else under the sun has failed.  

Can anyone suggest ANY chemical that can successfully eradicate this brown menace? I have a spare tank where I can put my fish (5* Scarlet Rainbows + 1 Three spot gouramu+ 1 tiger barb+ 1 Rosy barb+ 2 Congo Tetras+ 1 Asian Bumblebee catfish) temporarily to prevent harm from chemicals.  I just want to be rid of this infestation for good . I cannot go on spending money on buying new plants every month to replace my smothered dying plants. 

If it matters, i use pressurised Co2 (glass diffuser). The tank is 4 feet (50 odd gallons) and has two filters (A Eheim 2217 and an Internal power filter).  The substrate is a mixture of sand and aquasoil.  

Help please!  This is making me think if all of this trouble is worth it.


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## Edvet (11 Sep 2018)

To help effectively we need more data
1) pics of the tank and problem areas'
2) technical details: how and what ferts, waterchanches how big how often
3) to assertain CO2 a pH profile would be helpfull
4) flow and distribution of the CO2
5) tap water details


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## Null Zero (11 Sep 2018)

Thanks Edvet, will click and post pictures once i get back home... 

Water changes -  Do a 30% water change every other day..  That would be around 60-70 liters, thrice a week. 

Ferts - Use Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Sulphate and MGSo4, almost everyday, but in small quantities. Cannot tell you the weight in gms because i dont really measure it, but approximately it should be around 10 gms of K2SO4 and KNO3 and 5 gms of MgSO4 every day. 

Plants - Tank is heavily planted with Hygros, Java fern, Java Moss, floating water sprite, some Egeria Najas, Two smallish Nymphaea lotuses(loti??), A clump of jungle vals and an assortment of foreground plants (Sagittaria Sp, E. Tennelus, Staurogyne Repens and Microcarpea Minima)

Co2 is distributed by a glass ceramic diffuser, whose outlet forms a 120 deg angle with the outflow pipe of the canister, which is at the top of the tank, angled downward.  The Internal filter is parallel and points in the same direction as the canister outlet. Will post pictures...  The taller plants pearl after 4 odd hours of the lights being on.. Little pearling from the foreground plans... 

Tap water - All i can say is that the water is really hard, with significant amounts of residue on drying.  Even a drop of water will leave a white deposit behind...  I faced Mg deficiencies before (Pallor, green veins et) which was cured after adding MgSo4 regularly. Given this info, I am assuming the hardness is primarily CaCo3 related and not Mg.  Havent gotten around to buying a test kit yet. 

Will add more info later... Thanks for your help....


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## Edvet (11 Sep 2018)

You can ask the watercompany for tapwater composition.
For now it sounds like to much light for your CO2, pics should tell more.


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## ian_m (11 Sep 2018)

Why are you not dosing any phosphate ?

Are you dosing micro nutrients in any form ?

Really seems to be far far too much light for your CO2 levels.


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## Iain Sutherland (11 Sep 2018)

Assuming the 4 x t5ho bulbs are full length then this is a lot of light, turn 2 off, run for a max of 6 hours and go from there. 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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