Diatoms Driving me CRAZY!! YouTube Vid attached

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Tsherwoo

Member
I am getting to my wits end with my diatom issue, I have had this tank up and running since february, Every fish i have put into it has disappeared (i do not believe this to be caused by the diatoms but adds to my frustration)

All of my levels are good sg. 1.023, PH 8, Temp 79, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Phos .25, Calcium 400.

I have upgraded the filter last week to have a refugium with chaeto, and a 3 chamber including phosphate removing filter floss, chemi-pure with phosphate & silicate removers, and live rock.

I have been doing 15% water changes weekly.

Since april or may I have had my sand bed covered with what i think to be diatoms or red slime algae.

I have treated with red slime remover with little success.

Please let me know if I am on the right track, nothing seems to be working.[video]http://youtu.be/2Nx9MaXk-FY[/video]
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
my sand bed covered with what i think to be diatoms or red slime algae
Click to expand...

looks more like cyano to me (red slime) or dieing red slime from the red slime remover

If your cuc is listed in your sig line... I would add a bunch more snails - love snails for cuc - how much do you feed & how often? Do you siphon the cyano out with every water change? If not do so... hope something here helps...

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Quick Crew (30 Gallon)

28 Dwarf Ceriths - small cleaners that get to the nooks and crannies. Feed on diatoms, cyano, algal detritus, and film algae. Nocturnal cleaners that leave the sandbed at night to search for food.

11 Nassarius - scavengers that will eat leftover food and some fish waste. They will stir sand, but can also be kept in bare bottom tanks.

12 Florida Ceriths - small cleaners that get to the nooks and crannies. Feed on fine hair algae, diatoms, cyano, algal detritus, and film algae. Nocturnal cleaners that leave the sandbed at night to search for food.

6 Large & 5 Small to Medium Nerites - We are currently offering the longer lived and quite hardy Antillean Nerite. (Nerita fulgurans). It grows to a nice size,and consumes a good deal of diatoms, cyano, algal detritus, and film algae. It will also consume some fine hair algae. A nocturnal herbivore that will feed more often at night, they tend to need some time to adjust to the limitations of the aquarium during their first week.
 
steved13

steved13

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
+1 looks like quite a mix of algae there. I'm pretty sure there's Hair algea as well as what has been mentioned already. Manual removal is always the first course of action as well as getting the nutrients taken care of. Do what you can to reduce the nitrates and phosphates.

.25 is high for phosphates.
 
T

Tsherwoo

Member
I have been searching for a decent clean up crew but all i am able to find is hermit crabs and astrea snails at the lfs around here, and since im in canada i cant order online from any of those vendors. Are you aware of any Canadian mail order FS.

On the feeding note, i have been feeding my sun coral 3 times a week, what ever it misses i assume the crabs & shrimp get.

I have been trying to syphon the algae out when doing water changes but it appears my siphon is too weak to pull them out, they appear to be heaver than the sand.
 
KARussell88

KARussell88

Member
I agree your phosphate is high.
and your ammonia probably isnt 0, what are your actual readings
whats the flow rating in the tank
a clean up crew may help but you could also be overfeeding, whats your feeding schedule and how do you feed?
 
T

Tsherwoo

Member
Just re tested you got me paranoid, lights turned off 4 hrs ago, but refugium with cheato has been on since then.

Temp 80, SG: 1.024, Ammonia 0, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Phosphates .25.

I have yet to see anything other than .25 phosphate in my tank its touch to lower. I will hold off some feedings and try and find some better cleaners
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Beef up snails... (hermits eat snails, so you can add lots - no hermits here) what do you feed? I would suggest frozen & no more than 1 cube every other day

Change your chemi-pure elite every 3 months & run a 100 ml bag of Purigen too

when siphoning the sand, don't be scared to remove the top later of sand the cyano is attached too - you may end up removing 1 or 2 % of your sand everytime you do this, but you can safely add back more sand
 
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ViperDoug

Member
Be careful using the red slime remover as it will also remove many beneficial bacteria that the tank needs. YOur CUC needs to be beefed up. I got mine from reefclenaers.org as well and they almost keep the tank too clean.
 
T

Tsherwoo

Member
nanoreefing4fun said:
Beef up snails... (hermits eat snails, so you can add lots - no hermits here) what do you feed? I would suggest frozen & no more than 1 cube every other day

Change your chemi-pure elite every 3 months & run a 100 ml bag of Purigen too

when siphoning the sand, don't be scared to remove the top later of sand the cyano is attached too - you may end up removing 1 or 2 % of your sand everytime you do this, but you can safely add back more sand
Click to expand...

Im on my way to the LFS to grab like 10-20 nassarius snails, when i feed i feed 1/8-1/4 frozen cube EOD
 
T

Tsherwoo

Member
Update: Just got home with 15 Small Nassarius Snails, will keep you posted on outcome, I will feed less and cut my light phase from 10hrs to 7 hrs and see if there is any improvement. I also couldnt resist grabbing a Green Trumpet Coral and a neat looking button polyp.

Thanks for your help guys!
 
DrugMonkeyRX

DrugMonkeyRX

Member
Thats alot of fish for a 29G tank. I would do 15% water changes twice a week and continue siphoning that crap out. I had a small battle with Cyano that lasted about 3-4 weeks.
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
My take on what you should do is a bit different.

As things seem right now, it looks like you don't have any fish left in the system. If this is true, at the moment you don't have an overcrowding issue. If you do have all those fish in your system, reduce the fish population. You have a 29 gal tank, by the time you add a sandbed, and live rock, you reduce that to about 20 gal. That's enough for about 4 small fish, maybe 5.

Note that most of you algae is cyano, and it's growing on the sandbed. Note too that it's growing in the open areas. In this case, I'd get a gravel cleaner and deep clean the sandbed. Use this as a chance to change a large portion of the water. Usually you don't want to clean a sandbed as deeply as possible, but I would in your case. You may need to do this several times.

I would not add additional livestock at this time. Few snails, hermits, or other CUC members eat cyano. In my opinion, the advice to add more is misguided at this point. Not that you can't add more later, but at this point you want to get the cyano problem under control.

On the filtration system. I don't recommend live rock in the filter system. Put it in the tank, where it belongs. In the filter system, or refugium, it can become a big dirt trap.

I would feed the sun coral in another container, at least for awhile. While your correct in that the other livestock will usually eat what is being fed, this is addition food you don't want in the system at this time.

I agree with DrugMonkeyRX about getting an RO/DI unit and mixing your own SW. You just never know how careful the LFS is when mixing, and you can generally be sure they are using a cheep salt.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
I will feed less and cut my light phase from 10hrs to 7 hrs and see if there is any improvement.
Click to expand...

I would even suggest running your lights 5 hours a day for 5 days to knock it back, that with siphoning all of it you can out & more frequent water changes should really help. If you can add any more flow like an MP10 that can really help too, combined with less feeding & the improved cuc eating any food the fish & coral miss should help.

If you get an ro/di unit, that would be great, you never know when the lfs changes it's filter last - you can whip it !

ps - running your lights like this for a week won't hurt your corals
 
swissgaurd

swissgaurd

Member
DaveK said:
My take on what you should do is a bit different.

As things seem right now, it looks like you don't have any fish left in the system. If this is true, at the moment you don't have an overcrowding issue. If you do have all those fish in your system, reduce the fish population. You have a 29 gal tank, by the time you add a sandbed, and live rock, you reduce that to about 20 gal. That's enough for about 4 small fish, maybe 5.

Note that most of you algae is cyano, and it's growing on the sandbed. Note too that it's growing in the open areas. In this case, I'd get a gravel cleaner and deep clean the sandbed. Use this as a chance to change a large portion of the water. Usually you don't want to clean a sandbed as deeply as possible, but I would in your case. You may need to do this several times.

I would not add additional livestock at this time. Few snails, hermits, or other CUC members eat cyano. In my opinion, the advice to add more is misguided at this point. Not that you can't add more later, but at this point you want to get the cyano problem under control.

On the filtration system. I don't recommend live rock in the filter system. Put it in the tank, where it belongs. In the filter system, or refugium, it can become a big dirt trap.

I would feed the sun coral in another container, at least for awhile. While your correct in that the other livestock will usually eat what is being fed, this is addition food you don't want in the system at this time.

I agree with DrugMonkeyRX about getting an RO/DI unit and mixing your own SW. You just never know how careful the LFS is when mixing, and you can generally be sure they are using a cheep salt.
Click to expand...

very good advice here
also to add you must be running back and forth to the LFS to get Ro for top off.
get yourself an RO/DI unit you will save money in the long run.
i would not trust the LFS premix for quality reasons.its very easy to mix your own salt.but then again by the best saltmix you can afford
stop using redslime remover

vic
 
T

Tsherwoo

Member
Ok so when looking into buying a R/O unit, what are the main things to keep in mind, I have seen them range from $99 - $499 and have anywhere from 1-6 chambers.
 
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