Null Zero
Member
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.
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.
