Diatoms and Lighting.

[gobyfan]

I have had a bad outbreak of this brown stuff on my sand surface for the last two weeks, and no matter what i do it comes back as soon as i clean it off, all my water parameters are excellent even my Phosphates! Could this brown crap be caused by my lighting?
I have a 2x65 CSL 1 10000K Ultra Daylight, and 1 Ulta Actinic, on a 30 gallon tank, i have some Astreas and some Margarita Snails that wont even touch the stuff, and also my fighting conch, they all preffer to stay on the rock or on the glass.

I have my lights on timers, these are the times.

My Actinics turn on at 8:00AM and then my Daylights come on at 9:00AM, at 9:00 PM my Daylights go off and my actinics stay on untill 10:00 PM. (could this be causing this brown stuff to come out?)

My tank has been set up for 6 months.

Any help or advice would be GREAT!!

Thanks

[ April 23, 2002: Message edited by: gobyfan ]</p>

 

[Anonymous]

hi.
It is rare for a 6 month old tank to have diatom bloom, but not impossible. I guess there is no other plant in your tank? Usually diatom will gradually disappear, and you will be frighting hair algea, Bryosis and Caulerpa instead. Maybe if you get some Caulerpa in your tank, you diatom will diappear. In the mean time, get busy with your magnet scrapper, and let the skimmer and prefilter to get the diatom out. Diatom does no harm, but degrade the appearance.

 

[Anonymous]

How old are your bulbs?

Older bulbs change color temp and intensity over time.


What kind of skimmer do you have?

An underrated/small skimmer may not be removing enough nutrients from the water. A better skimmer or the addition of a refugium with macro algae may do the trick.

Do you use tap water?

Tap water is loaded with nutrients and the diatoms are consumming them. That is a possible reason why your tests come up negative.

Is it a new sandbed?
Did you stock the sandbed?

New sandbeds need time to cycle. If you did not add a detrivore kit,the worms must migrate from the rocks into the sand. Without adequate detrivore populations the detrius just sits and rots. This usually cuases a bloom. After the sandbed becomes saturated with infauna the detrius and the diatoms disappear.

Has your established sandbed been disturbed?

Disturbing a sandbed will kill the bacteria below the sand by exposing them to air. This will cause a bloom if enough sand is disturbed.


Also look into what you feed and dose.

Have you changed foods or feeding habits?
Are you dosing new supplements?


Do you use RO/DI?

Good luck,

 

[gobyfan]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ANEMONEBUFF:
<strong>How old are your bulbs?

Older bulbs change color temp and intensity over time.


What kind of skimmer do you have?

An underrated/small skimmer may not be removing enough nutrients from the water. A better skimmer or the addition of a refugium with macro algae may do the trick.

Do you use tap water?

Tap water is loaded with nutrients and the diatoms are consumming them. That is a possible reason why your tests come up negative.

Is it a new sandbed?
Did you stock the sandbed?

New sandbeds need time to cycle. If you did not add a detrivore kit,the worms must migrate from the rocks into the sand. Without adequate detrivore populations the detrius just sits and rots. This usually cuases a bloom. After the sandbed becomes saturated with infauna the detrius and the diatoms disappear.

Has your established sandbed been disturbed?

Disturbing a sandbed will kill the bacteria below the sand by exposing them to air. This will cause a bloom if enough sand is disturbed.


Also look into what you feed and dose.

Have you changed foods or feeding habits?
Are you dosing new supplements?


Do you use RO/DI?

Good luck,</strong><hr></blockquote>

My bulbs are only 1 month old.

I use a Prizm Protein Skimmer.

I only use r/o water from the grocery store. NO TAP WATER!

My sandbed is as old as my tank 6 months, as far as disturbing the sandbed i dont think thats happened! it is about 3" deep. (caribsea Aragalive)

I only feed once every other day.

I do add additives like calcium buffer, iodine and a reef vitamin supplement, and sometimes a ph buffer.

Thanks
GF

 

[tonyintn1969]

I had the same problem and my tank is over a year old, it happends, just do your regular water changes and tank cleaning and it will go away when the tank balances out.