Diatoms!!

[mobyfish]

Hi all, I have the early stages of a 200 gallon fowlr system. I purchased my dryrock about 4-5 months ago and had it cycling for about 3 months. Then, a month ago I added them along with a small cuc (5 or 6 snails, 10 hermits, and 1 cleaner shrimp) to my display tank. A couple weeks after that I added 4 damsels that I had in quarantine for a month. Everything has been going smoothly so far but yesterday I noticed some brown stuff (presumably diatoms) on my rock where the light directly hit. And today, my rock is coated. My question is if this is normal with a tank that is out of the nitrate cycle? My parameters are good 0-Ammonia, 0-Nitrite, 0-2 Nitrate. My fish are doing fantastic and eating well. Thanks for any input

 

[TwoHedWlf]

Hi all, I have the early stages of a 200 gallon fowlr system. I purchased my dryrock about 4-5 months ago and had it cycling for about 3 months. Then, a month ago I added them along with a small cuc (5 or 6 snails, 10 hermits, and 1 cleaner shrimp) to my display tank. A couple weeks after that I added 4 damsels that I had in quarantine for a month. Everything has been going smoothly so far but yesterday I noticed some brown stuff (presumably diatoms) on my rock where the light directly hit. And today, my rock is coated. My question is if this is normal with a tank that is out of the nitrate cycle? My parameters are good 0-Ammonia, 0-Nitrite, 0-2 Nitrate. My fish are doing fantastic and eating well. Thanks for any input

Yup, normal for about the first year or two.

 

[mobyfish]

Yup, normal for about the first year or two.

Thanks for the response! Good to know

 

[Deadliestviper7]

You can help get it under control by adding macroalgae or live plants.

 

[Jim bean 20055]

I also have diatoms in my tank and its growing fast. Should I be removing it or just let it dot its thing?

 

[Oughtsix]

I had the same problem on my new 180 g tank. I added a dozen or so ramshorn snails from my 5 year old 35 g tank. After about 3 days there are no signs of diatoms / brown algae left. The snails also cleared up all signs of green powder algae on the glass.

 

[Jim bean 20055]

I had the same problem on my new 180 g tank. I added a dozen or so ramshorn snails from my 5 year old 35 g tank. After about 3 days there are no signs of diatoms / brown algae left. The snails also cleared up all signs of green powder algae on the glass.

Are they bad though. Should I be removing them or just let them do their thing

 

[Potato Patatto]

Hi all, I have the early stages of a 200 gallon fowlr system. I purchased my dryrock about 4-5 months ago and had it cycling for about 3 months. Then, a month ago I added them along with a small cuc (5 or 6 snails, 10 hermits, and 1 cleaner shrimp) to my display tank. A couple weeks after that I added 4 damsels that I had in quarantine for a month. Everything has been going smoothly so far but yesterday I noticed some brown stuff (presumably diatoms) on my rock where the light directly hit. And today, my rock is coated. My question is if this is normal with a tank that is out of the nitrate cycle? My parameters are good 0-Ammonia, 0-Nitrite, 0-2 Nitrate. My fish are doing fantastic and eating well. Thanks for any input

Ive been dealing with the same issues as I just got into saltwater - still trying to figure out the problem - lights, feeding, water quality. I have a small 13 fluval kit and figured I’d just use nutri-seawater so I never had to worry about that issue. But soon my diatoms turned to green algea and now I’m seeing the beginning of red algea in one spot. LFS says it’s the nutri-water, filled with ammonia/phosphates/nutrients to start a cycle and bad for an established tank. BRS says it’s lack of a fully established ecosystem from the phytoplankton onward. Reef2Reef says it’s a new saltwater tank and it’s life lol it is a very noticeable difference in algea growth to me if you reduce your light time though, I’m doing about 4-6 hours a day max and seeing progress and just switching over to RO water.

 

[Oughtsix]

Are they bad though. Should I be removing them or just let them do their thing

I have had ramshorns snails in my 35 g planted tank for 4 of its 5 years. They are an EXCELLENT janitorial staff! For the most part I never see them... but I DEFINITELY see their results, an incrediably clean tank. When the ramshorn snails came in on a plant is when I stopped fighting algae. Several varying views on snails can be found here:
https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/snails-for-algae-control-yeah-or-nay.1317520/#post-11399792


Oh, do you mean the diatoms? They are just unsightly, diatoms cause no issues in my experience.

 

[Jim bean 20055]

Ok well thank you very much