# Is this diatoms smothering everything?



## Sdogg (25 Jan 2021)

Hi everyone

I basically have a brown film (99% sure it's diatoms) covering most of my hardscape and foreground plants. But what I'm not sure of is this hair/cobweb looking stuff that's starting to smother my substrate, it would be impossible to manually remove all of it.








Also most of my S repens are dropping most of their leaves. What's going on?




The tank has been running about 2-3 months but had a replant roughly 3 weeks ago. I really feel I've covered most of the bases, so it's quite disheartening this is happening. Feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers

Juwel Rio 125
Stock 22w LEDs. 6 hours duration. 
Internal pump upgraded to 1000lph
Biohome filter media
Fluval co2 diffuser placed inside filter, co2 art system, 40psi, 4ish bubbles per sec. Start 4 hours before lights on, end 2 hours before lights off. Bubble green at lights on, fish seem fine.
Aquasoil powder, 4ml TNC complete daily
70%ish water change, filter sponges cleaned, glass scraped etc etc weekly
10 rasboras, 13 tetras, 4 Amano and 10ish cherry shrimp
Siamensis 53b, lebelia cardinalis, s repens, lilaeopsis brasiliensis.


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## GHNelson (25 Jan 2021)

Hi 
Sure does look like diatomic infestation. Ramshorn snails will help removing it!
Have a look at the below thread.








						Using stem plants as a filtering aid at Start Up!
					

The subject of using fast-growing stem plants as part of a filtering aid has cropped up a few times recently. This idea has been around for a long time so not new,....it has benefits especially for a new set - up. I try and cover at least 50% of the water surface minimum.  1. Improves water...



					www.ukaps.org
				



hoggie


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## Sdogg (25 Jan 2021)

Ok mate, I'll get some floating plants.

Any idea about the S repens shedding?


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## GHNelson (25 Jan 2021)

Hi
I think that could be a Co2 distribution issue....lack of flow near the substrate!
SR can be a tad tricky, for me anyway..... Ive never been that successful with it!
The root system looks good....

A full tank shot would be helpful!


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## Sdogg (25 Jan 2021)

The co2 bubbles appear to be circulating all over. Some people tell me to point the outlet upward to get a surface ripple, others says point it down to direct more flow and bubbles downward.

I thought S repens was supposed to be an easy plant?

Thanks again


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## GHNelson (25 Jan 2021)

Hi
I would point the outlet downwards.....use some of the H.Siamensis 53b as a floater!
S.Repens...It is for some...


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## Jaseon (25 Jan 2021)

hogan53 said:


> Hi
> Sure does look like diatomic infestation. Ramshorn snails will help removing it!
> 
> hoggie


Some say Ramshorns will eat your plants. Not trying to be a knob, but my farther in law has bladder snails in his tank, and im trying to get him to look at them as part of a healthy set up if kept in check as they are not known to eat plants. I was watching some YT vids saying about the ramshorns as well.


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## GHNelson (25 Jan 2021)

Hi
Haven't saw them eating healthy plants....might eat dead remnants of plants!
I have them in 3 aquariums


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## GHNelson (25 Jan 2021)

H.Siamensis 53b....looks healthy!


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## GHNelson (25 Jan 2021)

Jaceree said:


> Some say Ramshorns will eat your plants. Not trying to be a knob, but my farther in law has bladder snails in his tank, and im trying to get him to look at them as part of a healthy set up if kept in check as they are not known to eat plants. I was watching some YT vids saying about the ramshorns as well.


Bladder snails are prolific egg layers....so you end up with a snail explosion!
I prefer ramshorns they don't produce as many eggs in my set-ups!


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## Jaseon (25 Jan 2021)

hogan53 said:


> Bladder snails are prolific egg layers....so you end up with a snail explosion!
> I prefer ramshorns they don't produce as many eggs in my set-ups!


I hear you.

I remove them when i see them, but used to squish them for the fish. I didnt know that you end up feeding more snails which can make the situation worse. I think its possible to achieve a balance with them, and they can be a welcome addition, especially for algae?


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## dw1305 (25 Jan 2021)

Hi all, 


Jaceree said:


> Some say Ramshorns will eat your plants.


Only Columbian Ramshorn (_Marisa cornuarietis_), and they aren't really Ramshorns. 


hogan53 said:


> Haven't saw them eating healthy plants....might eat dead remnants of plants!





hogan53 said:


> Bladder snails are prolific egg layers....so you end up with a snail explosion!


Planorbids, like Seminole (Red) Ramshorn (_Planorbella duryi_) are plant safe, I have them <"in all my tanks">, along with plenty of Tadpole (_Physella acuta_) snails.

cheers Darrel


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## EA James (25 Jan 2021)

hogan53 said:


> I would point the outlet downwards


That would give better co2 distribution and flow but what about surface agitation? Isn't that necessary for oxygen in the tank?


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## sparkyweasel (25 Jan 2021)

Jaceree said:


> Some say Ramshorns will eat your plants.


Giant Columbian Ramshorns will. Little red ones won't.


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## sparkyweasel (25 Jan 2021)

Lol, just saw Darrel's post. 
Even Great Ramshorns won't attack healthy plants.


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## aquascape1987 (26 Jan 2021)

I had something similar to this once, after a month or so into a new scape. After the first month of lovely growth, I noticed a faint brown film on some plants, which I also put down to diatoms.. Within a week or two, it looked like this:



I upped my water changes to daily and it seemed to curb its growth, but the issue was that the existing brown fuzzy stuff was still there, and it wasn’t going anywhere. I attempted to remove it manually for weeks with pinsettes, and whilst I could thin it out, it was impossible to remove from the HC Cuba I had down manually. I lost big clumps of my carpet even though I was being as gentle as I could, which I had to replace and patch in once I had got rid of the problem.

 Even my army of Amano shrimp weren’t at all interested in this stuff!

In the end, after weeks of desperate reading on here and google, but with nothing working,  I bought 2 x Siamese algae eaters, which is a fish known to eat fuzzy algae. Within 2 weeks, it was gone and ended up looking like this a couple of months later: (You can actually see one of the algae eaters in this pic, to the front left hand side of the tank)




In my experience, you definitely need to get rid of the fuzz that has already formed, even if it stops growing, as it won’t disappear on its own, and will smother the growth of your fledgling scape. Just be aware though, that Siamese algae eaters grow quite large, so have an exit strategy for him if you get one. I just swapped mine this week at my LFS for smaller ones, which they are happy to do there. I would say the fish doubled in size over about 15 months. Cannot recommend this fish enough for eating algae! Never tried snails though, but they may be equally as effective, but I doubt as quick as this beast of a fish !


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## Tim Harrison (26 Jan 2021)

Sdogg said:


> Aquasoil powder, 4ml TNC complete daily


That's too much too soon especially since the tank isn't particularly densely planted and you're using AS. It's just feeding the algae. I'd dose 1ml daily.

Go for a lime green drop checker at lights on and all the way till lights off. Not just green. Move your drop checker around to see if there are any dead spots.
Buy some more plants as well. The denser the planting the greater the biological stability and the greater chance you have of eradicating algae.

And it may seem counter intuitive, but I'd also give some thought to gradually increasing the light intensity. Or if that isn't possible the photoperiod to 8hrs. I'm not sure of the exact mechanism but it seems to help get rid of diatomaceous algae.


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## JTMoney (28 Jan 2021)

You commented on how you just planted new plants, depending on how the plants were initially grown they could just be dropping their leaves adjusting to now being submersed underwater. If this is so, the new growth will be strong and healthy.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


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## Sdogg (29 Jan 2021)

The S Repens came from in-vitro pots. They grew great for about a week, then this brown thread stuff took hold and they're now down to the bare stems.

I'm wondering if their decay is feeding this algae problem? The problem is worse at the front of the tank, which is where there is most flow from the filter downwash hitting the glass.







I'm starting to think that I should pull the bare stems out? Also the tops of a lot of the L brasiliensis have fur so I may give them their first trim to manually remove some of the algae?


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## DaveWatkin (1 Feb 2021)

That is exactly what happens when I try to grow s. repens. and I have tried a couple of times in different tanks with different lighting and some with CO2, some without. 

I think it must be my water as that is the only constant. I have really soft tapwater at about 2-3Gh 0-2Kh which I then top up to a 6/4 mix before putting in the tank What is your water like?


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## Sdogg (1 Feb 2021)

My tap water is hard. 18.76 English degrees according to my water company report.


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## DaveWatkin (1 Feb 2021)

Oh well that's my theory blown haha.

I would love to have this plant but it's one that just doesn't agree with me. I often see regrowth after the stage you are at but it's short lived and ends up back like this until I eventually pull it.


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