Video posted.. little help sought.

[Staaan]

Hey all..

So I've recently started having some trouble with diatom. Its progressive got worse and worse over the course of the week.

Does diatom come in a hairy variety? Because it looks .. well... hairy lol.

So.. how do I battle this?

I was told to get..

1 powerhead
snails (not sure which kind and how many I should get)
water changes (not sure how many to do in what course of time)

Anything else I can do?
Anything else I should be worried about?

Thanks for all the help

Here is the link to the video of my tank.. I posted it up in HD, so if you have a hard time making out any of the "hair" or textures, just click on the 720p drop down menu..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4aqSIaSr8

 

[aznt1217]

Dude. I sent you an IM. Take your corals and put them somewhere else for now and go lights out for a few days.

 

[h2o]

How long u have this tank running, need to know what are your water readings it looks like its going trough a cycle

 

[KathyC]

How long u have this tank running, need to know what are your water readings it looks like its going trough a cycle

Same questions -when was it set up - tank size & what your set up is like - all of the water pararmeters you have.

Looks normal for a cycle but as mentioned , you shouldn't have coral in there quite yet.

 

[TimberTDI]

Didn't you set this tank up with tap water?

Steven

 

[Staaan]

Nope, my 24 was set up with tap water. Thats why I'm kinda confused about why this tank (which was set up with RO/DI water) is suffering from such diatom. I guess I left the lights on too long, and it didnt quite fully cycle?

The tank cycled for about 2 weeks.

When I checked the water at that time..

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

So I did a 1 gallon water change (its a 6 gallon nano cube, all stock specs no mods)

I tested my water yesterday...

Ammonia was somewhere between 0 - .25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

So I'm really confused... I thought my tank was done cycling judging by the tests.

Deff. feeling as a failure as a reefer right about now.. haha.

I was advised by a friend to shut off lights for a few days and transfer corals into my other tank. The other tank is a 24g Aquapod that was set up.. and SOMEWHAT diluted with RO water..

However there is a longhorn cowfish in there.. that does seem to be quite the grazer constantly on the hunt for food.

So I don't think transfering the corlals into my other tank is really an option because of the tap/ro mixed water, and the cowfish.

Is there anyway the corals could possibly tough it out without lights for a few days.. or is that really more a path to the demise of my newly acquired frags.

(The tank has been running with coral for about 11 or 12 days)

 

[nyfynest22]

had it, turbo snails, cleared it up in a week.

 

[SevTT]

You need more snails. I suggest astraea and trochus snails and a good handful of ceriths if you can find them. (Ceriths will take care of diatoms on the sandbed, astraea and trochus wander all over the rocks and glass.)

 

[Staaan]

Thanks for all the input guys!

Picking up

3 - Cerith
3 - Nerite
3 - Astrea

from Will tomorrow