Diatom algae problem

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Rtc/tsn

Rtc/tsn

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Apr 22, 2021
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Cincinnati
I do water changer 2x weekly. One monday and one Thursday. I feed my fish basically whenever I eat, yea it’s weird but if I’m having breakfast then after I eat I put a couple pellets for him to eat and same with lunch and dinner and sometimes with midnight snacks I’ll give him a hikari excel pellet as a little snack. I have no problem with the diatoms in my tank as long as there on the left side glass and back glass and decor but just noticed it’s now spreading to the front and right side glass which are the two viewing panels for me. Right side is by my bed and I fall asleep usually looking at the fish or the decor and front panel is the main looking spot as it’s right in front of you when you walk in the room. I don’t want the diatoms on these two panels as it seems to make the water look dirty and sometimes cloudy if the algae is just growing and still white. How can I fix this from growing as fast? I have 2 windows in my room, one behind the tank and one to the left of my bed and I don’t have anything covering them, should I put up black out curtains I used to have to help block out the sunlight and making the algae not grow so fast? What should I do.
 
Rtc/tsn said:
I do water changer 2x weekly. One monday and one Thursday. I feed my fish basically whenever I eat, yea it’s weird but if I’m having breakfast then after I eat I put a couple pellets for him to eat and same with lunch and dinner and sometimes with midnight snacks I’ll give him a hikari excel pellet as a little snack. I have no problem with the diatoms in my tank as long as there on the left side glass and back glass and decor but just noticed it’s now spreading to the front and right side glass which are the two viewing panels for me. Right side is by my bed and I fall asleep usually looking at the fish or the decor and front panel is the main looking spot as it’s right in front of you when you walk in the room. I don’t want the diatoms on these two panels as it seems to make the water look dirty and sometimes cloudy if the algae is just growing and still white. How can I fix this from growing as fast? I have 2 windows in my room, one behind the tank and one to the left of my bed and I don’t have anything covering them, should I put up black out curtains I used to have to help block out the sunlight and making the algae not grow so fast? What should I do.
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I suffer diatoms as well but dont mind it I use an old bank card to clean front and side glass only takes me a minute to get it all cleaned off.

I also just introduced a load of snails as well and because I don't put food in there for them there doing a great job at keeping diatoms/algae at bay in general.
 
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Blackout curtains will help tremendously. My garage tank gets 0 sunlight (direct and indirect) and it's just like using blackout curtains in the room because of this. There is a shop light with a screw in led bulb about 3.5feet above the tank that is on for 6-7 hours, no diatoms. My main tank doesn't get direct sunlight, still gets brown diatom years later.
 
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I agree with the algae mag, that does a really good job and helped take my cichlid tank from hideous to spotless as far as diatoms go (now bba is another story).
May want to cut feeding, diatoms thrive off of excess silicates, nitrates, and phosphates, all of which are probably very high in this case.
Also part of a tanks cycling stages. Even if it is safe for fish, lots is still going on where algal blooms will come and go until the tank is fully mature. What reef keepers call the “ugly stages” of a tank.
Over the past few months, my puffer tank (that went into a mini cycle due to being shifted from a mbuna setup to a planted one) has seen diatoms, cyano, and now hair algae. It will pass eventually (and easier if I had an algae grazing fish), you just have to ride it out.
 
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Deadeye said:
I agree with the algae mag, that does a really good job and helped take my cichlid tank from hideous to spotless as far as diatoms go (now bba is another story).
May want to cut feeding, diatoms thrive off of excess silicates, nitrates, and phosphates, all of which are probably very high in this case.
Also part of a tanks cycling stages. Even if it is safe for fish, lots is still going on where algal blooms will come and go until the tank is fully mature. What reef keepers call the “ugly stages” of a tank.
Over the past few months, my puffer tank (that went into a mini cycle due to being shifted from a mbuna setup to a planted one) has seen diatoms, cyano, and now hair algae. It will pass eventually (and easier if I had an algae grazing fish), you just have to ride it out.
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So would feeding 2 times every other day be good?
 
I would say once a day with an off day is good for most flowerhorns.
 
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Rocksor said:
Blackout curtains will help tremendously. My garage tank gets 0 sunlight (direct and indirect) and it's just like using blackout curtains in the room because of this. There is a shop light with a screw in led bulb about 3.5feet above the tank that is on for 6-7 hours, no diatoms. My main tank doesn't get direct sunlight, still gets brown diatom years later.
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The thing about black out curtains is that i don’t know but I think it’s possible it may effect the flowerhorns colors and cause then to darken.
 
Deadeye said:
I would say once a day with an off day is good for most flowerhorns.
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What about this( I don’t completely like the idea of intentionally not feeding a fish especially at this size for a day) if I feed one time in the morning and one time at night then the next day I feed only once in the middle of the day and I feed a lot less? Would that cycle be okay?
 
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