# How to disassemble a Diatomic bomb



## idris (13 Jun 2011)

I've had a reasonable amount of Diatoms in my new setup. I've not been particularly concerned as it's a new tank. 
But over he weekend there's been a bit of an explosion and it's now covering a lot more glass and more and more of the wood (as well as much of my Hair Grass. 

Light is 2x36W in about 150l and there's no added gaceous CO2. I've added some NPK + trace and Easycarbo, high both at no more than half he recommended doses (as I've not got into the habit yet).

There are no fish in yet. 
In the next day or so I will be adding at least 6 Amano shrimp and (if the LFS Hhas cleared up their Ick) some Otos. 

Any Oberon suggestions to clear he Diatoms?


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## Tom (13 Jun 2011)

What's your substrate?


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## Bobtastic (13 Jun 2011)

Idris is using akadama. Just had a look at his journal and confirmed.


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## idris (13 Jun 2011)

Like Bob says


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## Fred Dulley (13 Jun 2011)

Manual removal and lots of water changes will see it go. Continue giving the plants everything they want too.
I'm sure you know that if you dose Easycarbo then you are required to do 50% water change per week because of the elevated plant growth rate (which leads to more production of metabollic waste).


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## idris (13 Jun 2011)

Fred Dulley said:
			
		

> ...I'm sure you know that if you dose Easycarbo then you are required to do 50% water change per week because of the elevated plant growth rate (which leads to more production of metabollic waste).


Of course I knew that


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## Bobtastic (13 Jun 2011)

idris said:
			
		

> Fred Dulley said:
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Well, as you should be doing at least one 50% water change a week it shouldn't make a difference to you right Idris? ....Right?


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## Stu Worrall (13 Jun 2011)

how many hours are your lights on for idris?


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## Morgan Freeman (13 Jun 2011)

Same problems here. Check your filter isn't full of gunk and manual removal. It's tiresome but it needs to be done.


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## idris (13 Jun 2011)

Bobtastic said:
			
		

> Well, as you should be doing at least one 50% water change a week it shouldn't make a difference to you right Idris? ....Right?


Not quite doing 50% changes but I'm doing them more than once a week, so yes, it shouldn't make any difference.



			
				stuworrall said:
			
		

> how many hours are your lights on for idris?


12hrs.



			
				Morgan Freeman said:
			
		

> Same problems here. Check your filter isn't full of gunk and manual removal. It's tiresome but it needs to be done.


The media is pretty clean, and getting rinsed when I do water changes.


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## Stu Worrall (13 Jun 2011)

idris said:
			
		

> stuworrall said:
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Sweet Lincoln's mullet!

You may want to drop that down to 5 hrs on startup now youve got water in it.  12hrs is ok for DSM but not for filled start     might help out with the algae


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## Bobtastic (13 Jun 2011)

Oooops! I didn't realise that you were still running your lights that long! I only have my in 5hrs and I am running my Co2 up to high heaven and dosing EI!


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## idris (13 Jun 2011)

Lights turned off now.  
Guess I'll be reading up on photoperiods this evening.


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## ceg4048 (14 Jun 2011)

Diatoms explosions occur when the aquarium is immature and when the hobbyist insists on pulverizing the plants with too much light intensity. Reduce the intensity by at least 50%.

I will reiterate that you have no business adding any form of fauna until you can get a grip on plant health. Adding fish does nothing to help your technique and they create more problems than they solve at this time.

Cheers,


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## faizal (14 Jun 2011)

Hey Idris!!!   

Just my 2 cents worth,....

1.Lower the light intensity & Duration as Clive & Stu have advised.
2. When you are doing the excel method,...you also don't need to restrict yourself with just a single 50% WC per week (someone throw a towel at my face if I am wrong here please and I will return back to my favourate corner  ). You can do 2-3 WCs ,...as long as you do the WC first ,...and then dose in your nutrients & Excel for the day.

-When you dose Excel it means you will be dosing ferts in accordance to modified EI for Excel Method almost everyday. So,...if you do a 50% WC before you dose your ferts and Excel ,.....it should  help in reducing the diatomic algal bloom.
Also in case you are not aware of it already,.....ideally you should dose the Excel a few minutes before lights on because the Excel has a half life of 12 hours. Hence it's concentration decreases by half after 12 hours.

Hang in there buddy  

Faizal


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## Bobtastic (14 Jun 2011)

I think that you can technically do as may water changes as you can stand to do! If you want to do 50% water change everyday you can do that. I believe that it's best to perform water changes b4 the photoperiod.


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## idris (14 Jun 2011)

Lights are now on for 5hrs. 

Thanks for all the info, especially from Prof Ceg (though I do feel a bit like I've just had my homework contemptuously thrown across the class room by a preeminent university academic who's been made to teach in primary school.   )


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## Stu Worrall (14 Jun 2011)

Something else I forgot about akadama that you might not have noticed on the site.

When you put fresh akadama into a tank it tends to suck all of the hardness out of the water and absorbs it which leaves less for your plants to use.  Due to this im sure the old guide somewhere on here advised multiple water changes in the first few weeks.  Ill try and dig it up


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## idris (14 Jun 2011)

If i knew it, I'd forgotten it, so thanks stuworrall. 

FWIW I live in an area with very hard water so that's never going o be a problem as such


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