• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Diatom and how to use fertilizer and light

L

LadyDay

Member
Joined
15 May 2020
Messages
114
Location
Denmark
Hi guys.

My new tank has been running for 3 weeks and I've gotten the classic bad attack of diatom algae. I know chances are they go away on their own when the tank stabilises, but until then I'm worried they may damage or even kill my plants, so I would obviously like to keep them down as much as possible. So my questions are if I should change my fertilizer to only use the one without Nitrate and Phosphate (trace elements only) and if I should lower the light intensity? Or/and light duration? Anything else I can do besides manually removing as much as possible and keeping up water changes?
Thanks

Here's some tank info:
Size: 80 liters
Filtration: Background filter. Don't know the flow rate, but can probably find out. It moves quite a bit of water!
Light: LED. Approximately 5000 Lumen, 7 hours per day.
Time running: 3 weeks exactly
Substrate: Tropica Soil Powder
Water parameters today (measured with liquid test kits): Ammonia 0 mg/L, Nitrite 0.8 mg/L, Nitrate 12.5-25 mg/L Phosphate 0-0.5 mg/L (PO4 measured shortly after large WC and adding fertilizers, the others before, so take that into account).
Fertilizer: Tropica Specialised Nutrition 2 ml/day and Tropica Premium Nutrition 4 ml/day
Water change regiment: So far 30-50% every second day.
CO2: Injected (bubble counter looks blue, it's been 2 hours since CO2 turned on (0.5 hours since light turned on), it's a bit greener than it looks and turns dark green soon. 1.5 bubbles/second.)
There are no inhabitants in the tank yet.
Plants:
  • Ludwigia palustris 'Super Red'
  • Cryptocoryne parva
  • Unknown cryptocoryne sp.
  • Limnophila sessiflora
  • Limnophila aromatica
  • Nymphoides hydrophylla 'Taiwan'
  • Unknown Echinodorus sp.
  • Staurogyne repens
  • Hygrophila corymbosa 'Compact'
20230329_094918.jpg
 
Last edited:
LadyDay said:
I know chances are they go away on their own when the tank stabilises, but until then I'm worried they may damage or even kill my plants, so I would obviously like to keep them down as much as possible.
Click to expand...
No your plants won't be killed by diatoms and yes diatoms will eventually disappear. Also no, there is no point in trying to get rid of diatoms or trying to keep them down. What you can do is simply clean the glass and perhaps lightly vacuum the substrate if that makes you feel better.
LadyDay said:
So my questions are if I should change my fertilizer to only use the one without Nitrate and Phosphate (trace elements only) and if I should lower the light intensity? Or/and light duration?
Click to expand...
In relation to diatoms, none of the above is necessary. Let it be and let it run its course.

LadyDay said:
Nitrite 0.8 mg/L
Click to expand...
LadyDay said:
There are no inhabitants in the tank yet.
Click to expand...
Once your tank is cycled and you introduce shrimps/snails and fish, diatoms will be an old memory. Even without any inhabitants diatoms will simply vanish.

Let me show you this tank. First picture was during cycling. Second around 1 month and half later. I did not remove by any means diatoms other than from the front glass so I could see the tank inside.
IMG_9800.jpg
IMG_0044.jpg
 
Last edited:
I had the same on my tank with a new substrate/hardscape and plants. The filter was mature but diatoms still appeared and in my case, were detrimental to plant health as they covered everything and prevent proper nutrient uptake/photosynthesis.

I'm about to set up a new tank soon and it's advisable to use some of the old, mature substrate if possible. If you have the patience, dark start the tank for a few weeks until you are confident that diatoms are not a concern. If they do attack, you can just let it run it's course and then add your plants once passed.
 
@Franks That doesn't sound good and is exactly what I'm worried about. It's too late to start the tank without plants, I planted it right away when I started it 3 weeks ago. I just hope the plants make it.
Reading around this forum and others I can't figure out if I should lower the lights.
I am pretty sure it's diatom algae, but it's grown sort of filamentous.
 
LadyDay said:
That doesn't sound good and is exactly what I'm worried about. It's too late to start the tank without plants, I planted it right away when I started it 3 weeks ago. I just hope the plants make it.
Click to expand...
Sure they will. Your tank is close to being cycled. Your plants will be 100% fine. What were you planing to add as inhabitants?

LadyDay said:
Reading around this forum and others I can't figure out if I should lower the lights.
Click to expand...
As I said above, if the point is exclusively to tackle diatoms, that's just useless. The tank I posted above was low light. Still diatoms invaded it.

LadyDay said:
but it's grown sort of filamentous.
Click to expand...
You can suck that out our use an old toothbrush.
 
Last edited:
I'm new to this and had diatoms within a week or so of my tank cycling. Long story short, I tuned up the CO2 and turned down the lights (from 55% intensity to 25%). That helped but what really made the difference is when I got tired of dosing ammonia and stocked the tank with six Ottos and eight cory's. They went to town and really cleaned the diatoms within two or three weeks. This tank is teaching me patience.
 
Hi all,
Hanuman said:
Once your tank is cycled and you introduce shrimps/snails and fish, diatoms will be an old memory. Even without any inhabitants diatoms will simply vanish.
Click to expand...
That one. Have a look at <"Seasoned Tank Time">.
LadyDay said:
Water parameters today (measured with liquid test kits): Ammonia 0 mg/L, Nitrite 0.8 mg/L, Nitrate 12.5-25 mg/L Phosphate 0-0.5 mg/L (PO4 measured shortly after large WC and adding fertilizers, the others before, so take that into account).
Click to expand...
I'm a snail fan, so I would be tempted to <"add some "tough" snails"> now.

cheers Darrel
 
Hanuman said:
Sure they will. Your tank is close to being cycled. Your plants will be 100% fine. What were you planing to add as inhabitants?
Click to expand...
Phew. I'll trust you on it. When it comes to algae eating critters I was thinking Amano Shrimp and Zebra Nerite Snails. For fish, Lyretail Killi, Norman's Lampeye and Microdevario kubotai.
 
zohsix said:
I'm new to this and had diatoms within a week or so of my tank cycling. Long story short, I tuned up the CO2 and turned down the lights (from 55% intensity to 25%). That helped but what really made the difference is when I got tired of dosing ammonia and stocked the tank with six Ottos and eight cory's. They went to town and really cleaned the diatoms within two or three weeks. This tank is teaching me patience.
Click to expand...
I am dying to get some algae eaters in there, but am waiting for the Nitrite to go away, hoping it'll happen soon. Unless I can add in some hardy snails already. Patience isn't my strong suit, but I am working on that. Patience is important in this hobby!
 
Hi all,
LadyDay said:
Are Nerites "tough" snails?
Click to expand...
Possibly dependent on your water, but I had Ramshorn (Planorbella duryi), Tadpole (Physella acuta) and Malaysian Trumpet Snails (Melanoides tuberculata) in mind.
LadyDay said:
Unless I can add in some hardy snails already
Click to expand...
These (above) are the snails often referred to as "pest snails", because they maintain self perpetuating populations. I regard this, and them, as an unalloyed good thing. They are more tolerant of poor water conditions and I would be very surprised if your tank wasn't suitable.

If you were in the UK I could send you a "tank janitor" starter pack, but I'm not sure how well they would travel to Denmark (or the <"legality of it now">, post BREXIT).

I use rain water, so I don't keep any of the more "fancy" snails, mainly because the water is <"too soft for them">. I also like <"plants">, <"fish">, <"live food cultures"> and <"tank janitors"> that maintain their population in the tank, it just makes it a cheaper hobby.

cheers Darrel
 
Last edited:
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

Possibly dependent on your water, but I had Ramshorn (Planorbella duryi), Tadpole (Physella acuta) and Malaysian Trumpet Snails (Melanoides tuberculata) in mind.

These are the snails often referred to as "pest snails", because they maintain self perpetuating populations. I regard this, and them, as an unalloyed good thing.

I use rain water, so I don't keep any of the more "fancy" snails, mainly because the water is too soft for them. I also like <"plants">, <"fish">, <"live food cultures"> and <"tank janitors"> that maintain their population in the tank, and it makes it a cheaper hobby.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
My worry is suddenly being completely overrun by these snails? And once they're there, they're hard to get rid of without introducing things that will also kill "fancy" snails (Like assasin snails. I have those in my big tank and they can take out even the mightiest of large snails and like pest snails they are hard to get rid of!) I don't mind the occasional "pest" snail around, but would rather not have the tank full of them. I also worry that their digging in the soil will make the water constantly cloudy once the soil startes breaking down to fine powder. But supposedly they only multiply a lot, a lot if the fish are overfed right?
 
dw1305 said:
If you were in the UK I could send you a "tank janitor" starter pack, but I'm not sure how well they would travel to Denmark (or the <"legality of it now">, post BREXIT).
Click to expand...
It's the thought that counts and a nice offer. I am sure I can get hold of these snails in Denmark too, if I dare to take a leap of faith and introduce them.
 
Hanuman said:
Your tank is close to being cycled.
Click to expand...
I hope it is. Having carefully tracked the water parameters I thought I would be over the Nitrites now, but the Nitrite content hasn't budged for 4 days. It wen't up much faster than it's coming down. But I know it will end eventually.
I am not adding ammonia by the way, I got a big spike in the beginning from the soil, but haven't had measurable ammonia for 10 days now.
 
Here is my experience with snails:

- Nerites snails are unparalleled when it come to eating algae. They also can't reproduce, or better put, eggs can't hatch in freshwater as they require brackish water to do so. However, they will leave eggs everywhere which can become an eyesore. They are also bulldozers and can wedge themselves into places you don't want to (between moss and wood, under epiphytes etc). Finally they don't fair well in acidic water as their shell will deteriorate.

- Malaysian trumpet snails are great at eating detritus and left overs in the substrate. They aerate the substrate which is a good thing. However they will reproduce very fast if there is enough food. Once in the tank, there is no way to remove them other than chemically. I don really mind them because I only really see them in the morning. Once CO2 start injecting they dig in the substrate and do their job.

- Small Ramshorn snails (specially the small Planorbis arnoldi). They will eat algae all right but they will also reproduce very very fast because they are hermaphrodite. These are the ones I wish I didn't have. I think they came in with some plants not long ago and they just keep reproducing. There will always be food for them considering their small size. I have to pick them out on a daily basis and add them in my pond outside.

- Bladder snails. They will eat decaying food or plants so they are great. They don't reproduce fast in my tank so I don't mind them. They would be easy to remove permanently if I wished.

It all depends what you envision for your tank.
 
Last edited:
@Hanuman Hmm, neither of those snails sound ideal. With CO2 (acidic water) and new, yet to root properly, plants, Nerites may be a problem. I'm also not keen on the eggs all over obviously. If I was free to choose I'd have a Mystery snail, but they've become illegal (due to fear of invasion in nature). I also have no idea how effective they are at eating algae. I think I'll have a chat with my favourite aquarium store about the various snails they have. Once the damn Nitrite disappears. Today there's MORE Nitrite than yesterday somehow! I am struggling to be patient! But it's also only been 3 weeks and the aquarium store said 4-6 weeks for the tank to be ready when using Tropica Soil.
 
www.ukaps.org

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
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top