Brown Diatom ""algae""

[Cichlid_Man]

Sorry for the repost of this topic, but I am still having issues with heavy Diatom "algae". I know it is not really algae, but let's not go there :-)
I forgot in my last post what I should do.
I switched slowly over to Reverse Osmosis water and even changed from Instant Ocean to H2Ocean, which is supposed to be better.
My tank is covered in a goldish brown all over the back glass and my white sand is no longer white.
I have numerous hermits and snails but they can't keep up.
Will this just run it's course, or is there a way to actually get it out.
Again, sorry for reposting about this but I cannot find answers.
I am not one who likes additives, but if there is something safe, I will try it.
My water is still showing no Phosphates or silicates....
Thanks a bunch!

[MCHRKiller]

How about nitrate?

Sadly for alot of people, their marine tanks go threw these huge algae issues for the first couple of months. Best advise I can give you is to get a good CUC in there, lots of them eat diatoms and whipe off what you can off the glass.

[Cichlid_Man]

Nitrates and all other water perameters are zero. Yes, I know it is common for the new tank.
It doesn't have me totally upset. The snails are keeping the glass clean, just some on the back, but it's the sand. The hermits seem to eat it up at night, but by the end of the day, the stuff is right back.
Makes the sand look nasty.

I heard it was from phosphates and silicates, and unfortunately, I believe you will get a zero reading on those because the diatom "eats" that up??
Don't know if that is true, but I will just wait things out

[MCHRKiller]

I believe yes your issue does mainly lie in silicates from probably the sand, that is one of the few causes that would have such a rapid re-growth of diatoms. Most test kits for phosphate and silicates are inaccurate anyway, Im sure that you actually do have traces of both but the kit just isnt picking it up. Try putting some chemical media in your filter, Polyfilters remove both Phospate and Silicate from your tank water, plus a ton of other things. :22:

[Cichlid_Man]

Thanks for the input.
I don't have filtration other than the skimmer and live rock.
Maybe I will look into a small HOB? Not that I need it for water clarity, but other issues such as this diatom
Thanks

[MCHRKiller]

I have found it benefitial to keep a small HOB to run chemical media in...so that may be something you would want to do. Doesnt have to be anything fancy...Im using an AC20 with like 1/3 of a polyfilter and a 100ml bag of purigen on my reef.