Diatoms and light

[Djkelley35]

Hello! I am pretty new to the reefing hobby and have a question as to how to deal with my current diatom bloom.
the tank is 20 gallons and is roughly four months old, has 2 clowns, 3 blue green chromis, a cleaner shrimp, one new zoa frag, Pom Pom Xenia frag, and a long tentacle anemone (bad decision on my part).
My sand bed is completely covered by diatoms and I just cleaned it yesterday, my rocks and even the frags have some diatoms on them. One suggestion I saw was to leave the light off for 3-4 days but I’m worried about how the corals will react to it. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[Doctorgori]

and this to shall pass .... you will get varied opinion here but 4mos old? I’d let it ride, maybe change your socks daily ... feed less and do a combo of less food and cleaning/ dirt removal plus time ...see what happens
...also IME changing your lighting schedule or worries over light spectrum to solve algae issues is like thinking cherry cough drops cure the flu... might work but definitely look elsewhere 1st

 

[SMSREEF]

Get some astrea and trochus snails. They eat diatoms. They will also eat the algae that comes along after diatoms.
diatoms are a natural step in your tank maturing.
A good CUC goes a long way in helping to stabilize a tank and create a cycle of life. This is oversimplifying just to make a point...

You feed fish, fish create waste, bacteria used waste, phosphate nitrate produced, algae/diatom use nitrate phosphate to grow, snails/fish eat Algae/diatoms.

 

[Djkelley35]

Okay so I found out a couple of days ago that my RODI system has not been working properly and I have like 69tds in my water, got that fixed and installed a inline tds meter so this won’t happen again. I did a 50% water change, but could the fact that I was essentially using tap water be part of the cause of the sheer amount of diatoms? Or am I reading into that? Thanks!

 

[SMSREEF]

Okay so I found out a couple of days ago that my RODI system has not been working properly and I have like 69tds in my water, got that fixed and installed a inline tds meter so this won’t happen again. I did a 50% water change, but could the fact that I was essentially using tap water be part of the cause of the sheer amount of diatoms? Or am I reading into that? Thanks!

Sure. There very likely is very elevated silica in the water you were using.
Now that the RODI water is fixed, the diatoms will use it all up and then numbers will decrease.

I still suggests getting some snails, they will eat the diatoms and most other algaes that will come later.

 

[Miguel Negron]

^agree

 

[Djkelley35]

Sure. There very likely is very elevated silica in the water you were using.
Now that the RODI water is fixed, the diatoms will use it all up and then numbers will decrease.

I still suggests getting some snails, they will eat the diatoms and most other algaes that will come later.

Sure. There very likely is very elevated silica in the water you were using.
Now that the RODI water is fixed, the diatoms will use it all up and then numbers will decrease.

I still suggests getting some snails, they will eat the diatoms and most other algaes that will come later.

Okay sounds good! I have two turbo snails, 3 astrea snails, and 4 blue legged hermit crabs. I do plan on expanding my CUC here soon for sure. Currently quarantined so can’t get to Petco (I know I hate Petco too but I literally have no LFS’s anywhere near me and ordering online is expensive with shipping) thanks for the help tho guys!

 

[jgirardnrg]

Get some astrea and trochus snails. They eat diatoms. They will also eat the algae that comes along after diatoms.
diatoms are a natural step in your tank maturing.
A good CUC goes a long way in helping to stabilize a tank and create a cycle of life. This is oversimplifying just to make a point...

You feed fish, fish create waste, bacteria used waste, phosphate nitrate produced, algae/diatom use nitrate phosphate to grow, snails/fish eat Algae/diatoms.

^ This... you're going to get diatoms in a new tank. The Trochus don't ever go on my sand bed but the Cerith snails, blue legged hermits and the fighting conch all do. You just need more members in your clean up crew.

 

[SMSREEF]

^ This... you're going to get diatoms in a new tank. The Trochus don't ever go on my sand bed but the Cerith snails, blue legged hermits and the fighting conch all do. You just need more members in your clean up crew.

very true.
My fighting conch is one of my favorite creatures in the tank, and keeps sandbed nice and clean.
I also love my Blue leg hermits too, but am always a little reluctant to suggest them because they can be crazy fighting all the time and getting into trouble.