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- KAREN BASS'S Dungeon
Hey fellas,
I need help in determining what may be feeding diatoms in my 10 gallon tank. It is officially 9 months old now... i had a diatom bloom two months into setting up my tank but went away on the 3rd month mark. I HAVE 2ND BLOOM THAT IS NOT GOING AWAY! I never had tanks in the past that had diatoms last this long... I know they are still around because something is leaching silicates. There are some things that I suspect like food or containers I use that may be contributing to this issue I am having:
Food and feeding schedule:
1. Four medium size carnivore hikari pellets 2 times a week - inverts in tank (mainly for serpent star and nasarius snails)
2. Seven small pieces of hikari probiotic pellets 4 times a week - 1 dottyback
Water source:
I use 4 stage BRS RODI water that I got new a month ago. Prior to that I was buying water at my lfs, and I trust their water considering they grow and harvest a ton of sps. I store fresh and salt water in the usual 5 gallon bottles we buy at fish stores. I siphon fresh water into Fiji water bottles for top offs so that I don't have to carry a heavy 5 gallon bottle to pour into my tank. I wonder if the Fiji water bottles im using for top offs are leaching silicate from the plastic.
*I do bi-weekly 40% water change.
Salt mix:
Red sea coral pro when I was buying water from the lfs. Using IO crystals since I started to mix my own water a month ago.
Filtration:
1. Chemipure elite and change it out every 2 months.
2. Filter pads (mechanical filtration) that I switch out every two weeks.
Livestock:
My one sps milipora, crocea clam, and other lps are growing very well though. All corals and clam are growing like weeds considering I added them only 3-4 months ago. I actually don't have much livestock in my tank.
* i did make a huge mistake by adding a scooter blenny and he ended up eating my entire population of copepods. Prior to the dragonet addition, my tank was infested with copepods.
The scooter blenny was added in early December and starved to death by Feb 2nd. Around the time the blenny was still alive, I started to see some signs of diatoms. I thought that may have been because I was feeding him mysis everyday which is more than my usual feeding schedule. More feedings.. more nitrates, phosphates, etc. But I also believe he ate my entire population of copepods which also contributed to the diatom bloom.
It has been 2 months now since the dragonet passed away. This weekend, I have seeded my tank with a copepod mix I bought at my lfs to restart the population. I hope this helps in a month or so.
Flow:
1 Hygeer wave maker - makes the flow very turbulent.
Atmosphere:
Could it be the air in my apartment is bad???? I do have an air purifier near my tank...
Am I being impatient? Maybe 9 months is too soon to expect diatoms to go away... In the distant past had a 25 and 12 gallon nanos, one 40 gallon sps/lps mixed tank, and one 80 gallon sps dominant tank. I never had diatoms last this long in any of them...
Just need to determine what could the silicate source be coming from...
thanks in advance
I need help in determining what may be feeding diatoms in my 10 gallon tank. It is officially 9 months old now... i had a diatom bloom two months into setting up my tank but went away on the 3rd month mark. I HAVE 2ND BLOOM THAT IS NOT GOING AWAY! I never had tanks in the past that had diatoms last this long... I know they are still around because something is leaching silicates. There are some things that I suspect like food or containers I use that may be contributing to this issue I am having:
Food and feeding schedule:
1. Four medium size carnivore hikari pellets 2 times a week - inverts in tank (mainly for serpent star and nasarius snails)
2. Seven small pieces of hikari probiotic pellets 4 times a week - 1 dottyback
Water source:
I use 4 stage BRS RODI water that I got new a month ago. Prior to that I was buying water at my lfs, and I trust their water considering they grow and harvest a ton of sps. I store fresh and salt water in the usual 5 gallon bottles we buy at fish stores. I siphon fresh water into Fiji water bottles for top offs so that I don't have to carry a heavy 5 gallon bottle to pour into my tank. I wonder if the Fiji water bottles im using for top offs are leaching silicate from the plastic.
*I do bi-weekly 40% water change.
Salt mix:
Red sea coral pro when I was buying water from the lfs. Using IO crystals since I started to mix my own water a month ago.
Filtration:
1. Chemipure elite and change it out every 2 months.
2. Filter pads (mechanical filtration) that I switch out every two weeks.
Livestock:
My one sps milipora, crocea clam, and other lps are growing very well though. All corals and clam are growing like weeds considering I added them only 3-4 months ago. I actually don't have much livestock in my tank.
* i did make a huge mistake by adding a scooter blenny and he ended up eating my entire population of copepods. Prior to the dragonet addition, my tank was infested with copepods.
The scooter blenny was added in early December and starved to death by Feb 2nd. Around the time the blenny was still alive, I started to see some signs of diatoms. I thought that may have been because I was feeding him mysis everyday which is more than my usual feeding schedule. More feedings.. more nitrates, phosphates, etc. But I also believe he ate my entire population of copepods which also contributed to the diatom bloom.
It has been 2 months now since the dragonet passed away. This weekend, I have seeded my tank with a copepod mix I bought at my lfs to restart the population. I hope this helps in a month or so.
Flow:
1 Hygeer wave maker - makes the flow very turbulent.
Atmosphere:
Could it be the air in my apartment is bad???? I do have an air purifier near my tank...
Am I being impatient? Maybe 9 months is too soon to expect diatoms to go away... In the distant past had a 25 and 12 gallon nanos, one 40 gallon sps/lps mixed tank, and one 80 gallon sps dominant tank. I never had diatoms last this long in any of them...
Just need to determine what could the silicate source be coming from...
thanks in advance
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