Can diatoms survive?

[Salty_Northerner]

I was dealing with diatoms only on the sand bed. I'd siphon them out into a filter sock and put the water back into the tank and the sand into a pale. After time the diatoms were gone and I'm trying to narrow this down.

- water change caused them to thrive again.

-I put the dry sand back in and a few days later the diatoms would come back. Is that possible, can they go dormant when dry?

What would you all suggest for this go around with these brown buggers?

 

[randomfishdude]

Check your silicate off the rodi you use. They love that. Also try more flow on the sandbed.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Is this a new tank? Is it new sand? New sand is a source of silicates.

Assuming you use a rodi unit, I get diatoms if I leave the cartridge on too long without replacement.

Your sure its diatoms?

 

[randomfishdude]

Is this a new tank? Is it new sand? New sand is a source of silicates.

Assuming you use a rodi unit, I get diatoms if I leave the cartridge on too long without replacement.

Your sure its diatoms?

Yea forgot about new sand. I just upgraded and I got bad diatoms.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Yeah I have a bed of anion beads on the input side of the di canister then a mixed bed the last 2/3's of the canister. All I have is a seachem silicate tester and says zero? And flow isn't an issue as I've got 1mp10 on the left bottom corner of the tank and another on the right side near the top in the center.

 

[randomfishdude]

Yeah I have a bed of anion beads on the input side of the di canister then a mixed bed the last 2/3's of the canister. All I have is a seachem silicate tester and says zero? And flow isn't an issue as I've got 1mp10 on the left bottom corner of the tank and another on the right side near the top in the center.

I don't see any diatom problem?
I see a slight brown.
Looks like nofthing compared to my tank. Lol.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Is this a new tank? Is it new sand? New sand is a source of silicates.

Assuming you use a rodi unit, I get diatoms if I leave the cartridge on too long without replacement.

Your sure its diatoms?

I did have a mix of dinos and diatoms and pretty sure the dinos are gone. I did starve the system out by stopping water changes for a month and it cleared up till I did a 10% wc then the diatoms came back. I did check under a microscope and it was mostly diatoms and just a few stragglers of dinos but that was maybe 2 months ago. The tank is a reboot as of last August and bought new caribsea special grade that said so called live sand. It was wet in bag.

I do change out the rodi filters every 3 months. I use BRS 1micron sediment and carbon block. Tds going into the membrane is 4 and 0 coming out if the DI stage.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I don't see any diatom problem?
I see a slight brown.
Looks like nofthing compared to my tank. Lol.

That's what my sand bed looks like after about 4 hrs of lighting.

 

[randomfishdude]

That's what my sand bed looks like after about 4 hrs of lighting.

And then then they dissappear at night?.
And come back during day?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

And then then they dissappear at night?.
And come back during day?

Yup

 

[randomfishdude]

Yup

Dinos. Still. What's ur phos and nitrates?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I've also got a uv back online the past 2 days. I hear dinos will disperse into the water column at night and same for diatoms.

 

[randomfishdude]

I've also got a uv back online the past 2 days. I hear dinos will disperse into the water column at night and same for diatoms.

Diatoms don't but dinos do.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Dinos. Still. What's ur phos and nitrates?

Funny you ask. I just finished testing. Phosphate is .070

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Diatoms don't but dinos do.

I'm pretty sure they do as well. I'll be able to collect another sample once the lights come on and the sand starts to brown out. It's not snotty or stringy like before. I did read somewhere in here diatoms will also disperse at night. But that's what I read?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

If I stop doing water changes for the month it'll go away. Tank is basically 4 months old and the last week in December will hit its 5th month. Rock is caribsea life rock and been in the tank since January. I've got small specs of purple corline algae starting to speckal the rocks so I'm on the right track. I've also put lights into acclimation mode for another 30days and only run the white channel at 5%

 

[randomfishdude]

If I stop doing water changes for the month it'll go away. Tank is basically 4 months old and the last week in December will hit its 5th month. I've got small specs of purple corline algae starting to speckal the rocks so I'm on the right track. I've also put lights into acclimation mode for another 30days and only run the white channel at 5%

OHHH.
Don't stop water changes. It's completely normal.
Don't change anything just keep everything stable. It will all be gone in a moth or 2. You're just going through a late ugly stage.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

OHHH.
Don't stop water changes. It's completely normal.
Don't change anything just keep everything stable. It will all be gone in a moth or 2. You're just going through a late ugly stage.

Ahh ok copy that. I should also mention I'm carbon dosing to an extent as well. Using Tropic Marin Elimi-NP and starting to switch my water changes from Tropic Marin pro reef salt to the bio-actif salt.

 

[Rp8]

Dealing with the same thing in the 5 month and mine is 2x as bad as yours. Just be patient it should clear up. Parameters are similar to yours