Brown Diatoms

[Iclimb06]

I am pretty sure I have brown diatoms. I have read that I need to kick up the light time. I have now increased the time from 9 hours to 12 hours. Is this enough light, or should I increase it more.

Also I am currently using an (Aqua-Glo) 18000 20W bulb. I also have the original 17 W stock bulb that came with the tank. Would I be better off to use one bulb over the other?

Finally, where should I set my lighting time after the battle is over? At the 9 hour setting, I had it lit 3 hours in the morning, and 6 hours in the afternoon. It was off during the day when I was not around. The tank still gets some indirect light during the day that seeps through the blinds and across the room.

[Lady Hobbs]

I moved your thread to the algae section altho diatoms are really not an algae but an absolute nusiance and one I have been fighting for a year.

You will get some good advice here but I sure am not the one to give it so will bow out to the experts. I only know what I've read......which is increase lights, lower silicates and reduce nitrates. I am using sand, as well, which also have silicates and putting me over the top so may have to switch to a plant substrate to help eliminate some of it.

[MeganL3985]

I too have been fighting the aweful brown stuff. Its a pain.

[Evil Slimy]

Hobbs, it should be lower silicates and raise nitrates (to 10ppm or so).

using an (Aqua-Glo) 18000 20W bulb
Is 18000 the Kelvin temperature? Is the light really blue? If so they are meant for SW tanks and corals. On freshwater tanks they have a way of really helping algae. 10 to 12 hours should be fine, but do it in a single block, especially if the tank is getting indirect light while the tank lights are off.

[Lady Hobbs]

High nitrates can also cause diatoms. Which is why I said lower silicates and nitrates. I was assuming he may have high nitrates but I should not have assumed that.

[Iclimb06]

I’m not completely sure on the bulb. It was recommended by a SW friend of mine. It is not really blue, and since I am a pack rat, I retrieved the box and it says Ideal for: Fresh Water Aquariums and Planted Aquariums.
Just tested the water, I do not have any Nitrites; however my Nitrates are up to about 20ppm. I probably caused a mini cycle, because I did a super clean of my tank the other day. I know I shouldn’t, but I vacuumed most of the gravel, and removed all the decorations and cleaned them. I found that if I remove the decorations, and soak them in Hot (about 145 F) tap water, it seems to kill the Diatoms, and then I give them a good scrubbing to remove what’s left behind.
I vacuumed everything because I have white substrate, which looks really bad when it is covered in brown diatoms. This brings me to another question I do not have a silicate test so I do not have a reading. However, I was wondering where silicates may be coming from, because I have white gravel, and not sand?

[toddnbecka]

A good old BN pleco will clean up diatoms quite well if you have stocking space for one. If it's a 10 gallon tank, it's too small though.

[PhilliesFan202]

I have Tryed everything to get rid of The brown Alge In my tank use magnets to clean it off the glass Put X-phos pads in my filters which are supposed to get rid of no2 no3 and Phosphates ive vaccumed gravel put in pleco's which just keep dying I cant figure the stuff out at all I am not sure if my bulb is powerful enough or not and I have Petstore Prepackaged Gravel

[Iclimb06]

Only have a few fish in my 29 gallon. But I think I want to wait on getting any new fish. I am moving at the end of August, and do not want to stress any more fish than I have too. In addition, I am thinking of changing my stocking scheme, so I am not sure if plecos would go with it.

Am I helping the situation by scrubbing them off the glass and other objects in the tank, or am I just spreading them around?

[terrapin24h]

i tend to have a running fight with diatoms and i have found two things to fight them; lots of water changes with scrubbing of decor and gravel vac, and algaecide. I have just got 2 oto-cats(Otocinclus) which are supposed to LOVE diatoms. As i understand it, they and certain snails are the best natural way to get rid of them. Nice thing about oto's is they stay small. Mine are very active and sucker to everything in my tank(i've had'm for a couple days now and they haven't gotton to the gravel yet) very cool, active little fish that don't take crud from anyone else in my tanks(rosy barbs, tetras) look into them.

--chris

[PhilliesFan202]

I just bought another Silver Hatchetfish but he died so I am going to Return him to Petsmart And get an otto or 2 what do you feed your otto's I have left over Alge wafers from my two dead plecos

[Lady Hobbs]

Some zucchini, algae pellets and cucumber should be plenty. I also need some otto's but having to drive an hour to get them.

[PhilliesFan202]

Im on my way to get some now I hope only two are okay and im sure as usual my Gourami is going to beat on them for a while like he does all the fish I put in I havent had much luck with pleco's so I am off to try out some otto's

[toddnbecka]

Oto's tend to be more delicate than pleco's, good luck with them.

[PhilliesFan202]

Petsmart dosent carry OTTO'S !:confused:

[toddnbecka]

Check out otocinclus.com for detailed info.

[Lady Hobbs]

Or catch one yourself. LOL

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[PhilliesFan202]

ha thats probally how pet smart gets all their fish well since ottos are more Sensitive then pleco's I would probally have even worse luck my pleco's usually last about 1-2 weeks I dont get it im just a bad Pleco keeper I really like them too

[Lady Hobbs]

I will still try to get ottos because they stay small. Their mortality rate is higher due to the stress of their shippment but if you have them for a week without dying, they should be fine then.

If you end up getting a pleco, get the bristlenose. You don't want a common pleco or it'll be a tank buster.

[PhilliesFan202]

I will still try to get ottos because they stay small. Their mortality rate is higher due to the stress of their shippment but if you have them for a week without dying, they should be fine then.

If you end up getting a pleco, get the bristlenose. You don't want a common pleco or it'll be a tank buster.


what do you mean tank buster ? and how rare are bristle Noses? I cant seem to find them anywhere? there anret really any Family Run pet stores around me only big chains and they only have plain pleco's or Clown pleco's which look cool and are small but I just have terrible luck with Regular pleco's they refuse to eat in my tank and just end up dieing within 1-2 weeks

[toddnbecka]

Large fish are called tank busters. Common pleco, clown knife, red-tail catfish, etc. will outgrow most aquariums. The baby fish you find f/s will eventually require a 6' (or larger) tank. Bala sharks are another common monster fish.

[LosC]

My diatoms went away in my 30g after about 3 or 4 months from set up.

[Lady Hobbs]

Mine has improved greatly in the last week, too. Not out of the woods yet.

[ncbuckeye]

I bought a couple of Chinese algae eaters, since they were 5/$5 at my LFS, they've been doing a great job at cleaning, just don't get to many they say they get aggressive towards each other as they get bigger and they grow to 5-6 inches, but after 3 days there is hardly any of the brown stuff left.

[Iclimb06]

Well, I cranked up the lighting in the tank, and on Thursday morning I left for the holiday weekend. When I came back, the bottom quarter of the front glass was very heavily splotched with Brown Diatoms, and there was a brown carpet over my nice white substrate. This is the worst I have seen my tank.

I did not check the temp, which I should have done, until this morning when I noticed my swordtail acting a bit sluggish. When I looked at my stick-on thermometer, it was in the upper eighty to ninety degree range. I guess I did not think about the ability of the light to heat the water. So I turned the light off, and opened the top to help evaporative cooling of the tank.

I plan to go to the store today and get a magnetic glass cleaner, and a new thermo (I broke my other one and that is why I am dependent on the stick-on back-up). When I get back, should I clean the tank? I do not want to change the water temp too fast, and shock the fish. What temperature should the fresh water be, and what percentage W/C should I do.

Also, am I just dragging the process out longer by cleaning the diatoms, since they are said to use up their food source, and then disappear?

[PhilliesFan202]

I have been wondering the same if I am making it worse by cleaning them up all the time my tank flucualtes between 79 and upper eightys Recently I went crazy and Vaccumed my tank water change and scrubed off all my decorations and intake tubes for my filter and it was spotless It hasnt been back as bad as it used to but I still need to about every 2-3 days clean the glass with the magnet im also not sure if you should be increasing light ive been cutting back on mine and it seems to be improving

[Iclimb06]

I looked at my tank after going to the store, and I thought it looked like the diatoms had decreased. I had had my hood light off all day. I thought I was just imagining things, but when inspecting the tank closer, I noticed that the diatoms were only growing where there was ample light. Inside the rock cave, the substrate was perfectly white.

I did not think the tank was cooling fast enough, about three degrees in a day in a half, so today I put a Ziploc bag with Ice in it into the tank. Just in case any leaks out I added some water and three drops of conditioner. I figure if I do this every couple of hours, I should be able to drop it about ten degrees over the next day or so.

[PhilliesFan202]

I dont really do much to Alter my Tank temps I usually just turn the AC on in my apartment and that usually cools it down very well and it does it slowly which is good for the fish

[reef12]

Brown stuff will go away as soon as tank comes into balance.

Need to add fert and if heavy planted so Co2.

[villandra]

I'm going around it with those diatoms too - I think.

Will corycoras eat the diatoms, and if so how many? My tank's not nearly big enough for a pleco.

There are filter media available to remove phosphates and silicates from teh water - how well do they work? Fosters and Smith has one variety on sale.

Yours,
Dora Smith

[Iclimb06]

Good luck with the battle. I am just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I ended up getting two Chinese Algae eaters about mid July. I pretty much let the diatoms do their thing unless I had guests over. A day or two before I was expecting guests I would remove the decorations and the top brown layer of rock. Then I would submerge them in the hottest tap water I could get (145 F) for ten minutes or so. Finally I would let them set in cool water with extra dechlorinator for another ten minutes and place them back in the tank. This cleans off the diatoms to keep the tank looking good even when you are in the middle of a diatom battle.
Hope this can be helpful.