# Diatoms...... i know! i know!



## st.john (25 Mar 2017)

My large tank (350ltr) has now been set up for over 2 months. I have been doing one 50% water change at least once a week and 20% changes every few days with a rinse of filter material (in treated water (as in aquasafed)) at the same time and the Diatoms are getting worse! I know I know.. be patient... BUUUTT?? any advice? Is the rinsing of the filter medium not helping? its a light rinse to remove solids basically. NOT a scrub or anything like it. 

Lighting is 6 tube t5 but only running 2 of the tubes. 
NOT adding ferts. plant growth is superb.. fish are verrrr happy. 
Co2 FE - in tank Co2 is a bob-on green. 

I guess patience is the key? 

I had a green water bloom a couple of weeks ago and put some willow whips in (i like the look too which is a bonus) and it sorted it within 2 days and they are leafing out quite nicely... 

any ideas etc would be appreciated.


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## Dantrasy (26 Mar 2017)

Green water and diatoms sounds like too much light/par. But 2 tubes does not seem excessive, and all the filter cleaning shouldn't be necessary. 

What's your light duration? 
Are you feeding the fish much? fishfood raises Nitrates
Do you know your Nitrates? 10-30ppm is fine. 40 at the most.  
(As there's no pics) Sure it's diatoms? Brown fluffy stuff? 

At the 2 month mark you need only do weekly 50% wc'es, not extra 20% wc'es throughout the week. That could be messing up your balance, hard to say. 

Otto catfish eat diatoms, so do Amano shrimp. Do you have any of these?


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## st.john (27 Mar 2017)

ok, sorry about late reply..
lights on for 8hrs.. knocked down to 6 for time being and raised up higher above the tank.. 
fish feeding - probably too much tbh! i have 8 amanos and about 20 various versions (!) of cherry shrimps. 
also have some green hair algae going on.. i expect that it's just the substrate growing in tbh - there is a lot of it and in 3 built up areas.. will get some pics posted. have 6 ottos, a pair of clown plecos and some dwarf cories (that have already successfully bred 3 babies).
other inhabitants include a shoal of 16 silver tip tetras, a shoal of 10 back phantom tetras and a pair of rams. 
The fish are very content - and due to the set up have established their own territories and are scoffing food!


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## st.john (27 Mar 2017)




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## maboleth (27 Mar 2017)

I also suffer this in combination with cyanobacteria. They just don't seem to go away whatever I do. My tank is way older than 2 months.  Probably a few years...


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## st.john (27 Mar 2017)

maboleth said:


> I also suffer this in combination with cyanobacteria. They just don't seem to go away whatever I do. My tank is way older than 2 months.  Probably a few years...


not the answer i was hoping for!!!!! good luck with it!


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## maboleth (27 Mar 2017)

Thanks. However, if your tank has only diatoms, you are kind of lucky. Most janitor fish and snails eat that. Like, everyone. Otos, Ancistrus, shrimps. But most effective are the snails. Malaysian trumpet snails & Nerites.


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## JMorgan (28 Mar 2017)

st.john said:


> I had a green water bloom a couple of weeks ago and put some willow whips in (i like the look too which is a bonus) and it sorted it within 2 days and they are leafing out quite nicely...
> 
> any ideas etc would be appreciated.


I do like your willow whips - can you say more about how you do that? Presumably same basic idea as folks that grow bamboo in HOB filters? Does it make a difference where you cut them? Do they go down to the substrate?

As for diatoms - I had a massive problem following a DIY experiment with LED lights that were way too bright. Since swapped out for a different type that's dimmable and it seems to be calming down. I was rotating some of the worse affected plants (try getting this stuff of a crinum calamastratum (sp?) ) to another tank with a bunch of otos in it - I have big angels in the affected tank - and they do an amazing job, so I think you maybe over-feeding and making your otos and other diatom eaters a bit lazy? I've recently seen some diatoms in my oto tank and realised I've been spoiling them with almost continual courgette and pepper slices!

Sorry I know that doesn't help solve the root problem - only thing I can suggest on that score is that given the size of this tank you don't really have that many plants so maybe some fast growing stems would help? I mean with a view to removing them when things have had time to settle and grow in more? You've got quite a lot of "beach" - what's the substrate?

You say your not adding ferts, but all that means is that your water must be carrying enough goodness to give you the 'superb' plant growth your getting, cos the nutrients have to be coming from somewhere, and with so many water changes . . . I dunno - just intrigued to know what your water is like what with green water, diatoms and great plant growth? 
sorry for the waffle 
cheers


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## st.john (28 Mar 2017)

JMorgan said:


> I do like your willow whips - can you say more about how you do that?..../QUOTE]
> Hey! Thanks for the reply! Willow whips - Willow is insanely hard to kill and any bit of young growth and 99.9% of old growth will sprout roots from nothing - just a sliced off twig and shoved in the tank. Willow is a great nutrient grabber. Also can be Bonsaied....
> The substrate is sand - just bob standard aquarium sand - look natural and cheep!
> I'm gonna cut back on feeding big time - i have deffo been overfeeding them and i think that is where the true trouble lays.
> There are floating plants and a lily in there along with a load of crypts.. i want a jungle look with open spaces if that makes sense...


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## roadmaster (28 Mar 2017)

Where is/are the diatom's??
Photo shows possibly a little on the glass in far right corner which could be wiped off with clean paper towel folded into fourth's.
Cannot see much covering leaves of plant's.
If it's only on the glass,then keep wiping it off till it get's tired of the harassment.
if it is gathering on carpet plant nearer the substrate,then might give the carpet plant a hair cut while combing through the carpet to dislodge any bit's of organic matter that may be falling into the carpet.
Diatoms do eventually go away ,just not as quickly as we might sometimes hope.


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## st.john (29 Mar 2017)

roadmaster said:


> Where is/are the diatom's??
> Photo shows possibly a little on the glass in far right corner which could be wiped off with clean paper towel folded into fourth's.
> Cannot see much covering leaves of plant's.
> If it's only on the glass,then keep wiping it off till it get's tired of the harassment.
> ...


thanks for the reply!
it's throughout the tank, especially in amongst the plants.


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## st.john (6 Apr 2017)

Just a quick update in the hope that it helps others..
dropped lighting down to 2xt5 tube active for 7hrs a day and introduced 5x SAE. remarkable. The SAE are polishing off what algae/diatoms are present and the drop of lighting seems to have stopped/slowed the growth of more.


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