Paul Taylor
New Member
Hi all,
My tank is in the early stages (just over two months running, it is cycled, and now has only 2 clownfish) and a diatom outbreak started within a week of adding the fish. This is normal I understand and I resolved to be patient and wait for the diatom's food source (silicates) to be exhausted and the diatoms to die out naturally.
However, I noticed immediately after a water change the diatoms outbreak multiplied significantly, covering all the glass of the tank, the sand and the rock (which had previously been cleaned by the snails). It literally went from a mild covering on the sand to the entire tank being completely covered overnight.
This led me to order in a test kit for SiO2 to test for silicates in the salt water I used to top up the tank (I still have some left).
SiO2 in the display tank currently: < 0.1 ppm (6 days since w/c)
SiO2 in the left-over S/W mix I used for the water change: 1.6 to 2.0 ppm
As this is in a new mixing barrel I have just bought, I also thought to test the 'pure' RO that I obtained from my LFS both barrels are also showing 1.6 ppm to 2.0 ppm SiO2.
Could this be a problem with the LFS RO water?
Or the two barrels I use to carry it back from the shop? (Both were bought from the LFS and they may or may not have been new at the time as they also rent out these barrels).
I presume I am never going to get through the outbreak if I am constantly adding food for the diatoms?
Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.
My tank is in the early stages (just over two months running, it is cycled, and now has only 2 clownfish) and a diatom outbreak started within a week of adding the fish. This is normal I understand and I resolved to be patient and wait for the diatom's food source (silicates) to be exhausted and the diatoms to die out naturally.
However, I noticed immediately after a water change the diatoms outbreak multiplied significantly, covering all the glass of the tank, the sand and the rock (which had previously been cleaned by the snails). It literally went from a mild covering on the sand to the entire tank being completely covered overnight.
This led me to order in a test kit for SiO2 to test for silicates in the salt water I used to top up the tank (I still have some left).
SiO2 in the display tank currently: < 0.1 ppm (6 days since w/c)
SiO2 in the left-over S/W mix I used for the water change: 1.6 to 2.0 ppm
As this is in a new mixing barrel I have just bought, I also thought to test the 'pure' RO that I obtained from my LFS both barrels are also showing 1.6 ppm to 2.0 ppm SiO2.
Could this be a problem with the LFS RO water?
Or the two barrels I use to carry it back from the shop? (Both were bought from the LFS and they may or may not have been new at the time as they also rent out these barrels).
I presume I am never going to get through the outbreak if I am constantly adding food for the diatoms?
Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.