How to get rid of diatoms on pygmy chain sword

[SandNukka15]

My planted 75 gallon has been set up for about 8 months now and my diatoms have been spreading all over my pygmy chain swords. I cant rub them off bc it's hard with all the pygmy chain leaves. Otos are out of the question bc I'm fully stocked and dont want to rely on fish. My lighting is a 6500k beamswork running 8 hrs a day. I've been dosing excel almost daily and the only algae I have are diatoms. Substrate is sand and there are a few mexican pebbles which I'm guessing isnt helping. My water does have a decent amount of silicates but nothing crazy. I do have a bristlenose but he hasn't done much damage.

I thought about phosguard but would like to use it as a last resort.

Any help?

 

[kno4te]

Try soaking in a water:bleach mix. 19:1 ratio. Also can add phosbond.

 

[SandNukka15]

Try soaking in a water:bleach mix. 19:1 ratio. Also can add phosbond.

Removing the plants isnt an option for me.... its heavily planted

What's the difference in phosbond and phosguard?

 

[kno4te]

Phosbond binds more phosphate and does it quickly compared to phosguard.

 

[SandNukka15]

Phosbond binds more phosphate and does it quickly compared to phosguard.

When using those types of products I'm afraid of either removing too many phosphates where theres not enough for the plants. Or getting an imbalance. If using phosbond how much would you recommend using for the 75 and how often to replace?

 

[kno4te]

When using those types of products I'm afraid of either removing too many phosphates where theres not enough for the plants. Or getting an imbalance. If using phosbond how much would you recommend using for the 75 and how often to replace?

Gotcha. Can try for half the tank size. See how’s its working. Then can dose up to the tank size if no changes. Dosing is 1/4 cup for every 50g.

 

[SandNukka15]

Gotcha. Can try for half the tank size. See how’s its working. Then can dose up to the tank size if no changes. Dosing is 1/4 cup for every 50g.

So I tested the water just to see if nitrates creeped up. Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 2.5ish.

So I'm thinking either my caribsea sand is still leaking silicates, the mexican pebbles are or my tap water has high phosphate.

I've been doing 2 66% wcs a week due to the medium to high bio load. I think it might be removing too many nitrates and not having enough for the plants. This could explain high phosphates in my water since I'm doing 2 large water changes.

I'm going to cut it down to 1 66% water change per week and see if the nitrates rise up to around 10 and if less new tap water will help with lower silicates.

I ordered an api phosphate test kit coming monday to check my tap water.

I dose flourish and flourish excel as well as iron and potassium.... do you think overdosing any of these could cause diatoms?

Thoughts?

 

[Matteus]

I know you said you don’t have room for any more fish.

This 20 g (qt)tank was covered in diatoms at 11 pm when I put this little 3-4” flagtail in here. When I woke up at 7-8 am it was like this.

I typically keep this guy in my 70 g and I have never had to do an algae scrub even once in about a year since I got it.

 

[SandNukka15]

I know you said you don’t have room for any more fish.

This 20 g (qt)tank was covered in diatoms at 11 pm when I put this little 3-4” flagtail in here. When I woke up at 7-8 am it was like this.

I typically keep this guy in my 70 g and I have never had to do an algae scrub even once in about a year since I got it.

View attachment 1381408View attachment 1381409View attachment 1381410

I love flagtails and have used them in tanks with bigger fish for this same reason. They grow big but slow, I just wouldnt want to mix a flagtail with my theme of small fish mostly tetras. I do have a blue phantom and bristlenose in the tank so theres always a risk of the flagtail sucking on them.

 

[Matteus]

Ya each ft has its own personality. Out of the 4 I have they each have their own certain behaviour of what they suck on. So it’s hard to know without trying. None of them seem to worry about other fish, other than each other every once in a while.