My first month with my Fahaka. <3

[BionicBroccoli]

It’s my first month with my fahaka in my 100 gallon.
He/she has become unrealistically personable.
The name is Dewey.
I have a 20 gallon tank that I have prepared months before breeding MTS and ramshorns snails which Dewey and me are loving.
The only issue I have is this is my first sand tank in my fifteen years of fish keeping.
The diatom algae or organism that it is growing on my sand and plants has become a sight issue.
I recently put enough phosgaurd for a 250 gallon tank in my filters and also have my lights on a timer for 7 hours. Do you have any other recommendations?
Every water change I have to take out all my plants and wood because there is such a build up and have to scrub it as well as my glass every three or four days to make it look Immaculate. I also do a weekly 35% water change.
Is this just a new tank issue?

Much thanks, Jeffrey

 

[Hendre]

The algae could be caused by excess silicates in the sand. Did you use silica sand? Lovely tank and fish!

 

[BionicBroccoli]

The algae could be caused by excess silicates in the sand. Did you use silica sand? Lovely tank and fish!

Thanks! : )

Yes, it’s pool sand and a bag of caribsea on top.
The phosguard by seachem says it’s supposed to help with the excess silicates but I have not noticed any decrease in the amount of build up even with me dosing over 200% in my filters.

 

[Rocksor]

Give it 6 months. If it doesn't change get better by then, read your water quality report and see if the water company filtration method includes using silica sand to filter out large particles.

 

[adamsfishes]

Is that the brown stuff that has a dust-like consistency? In my experience, it's common on new tanks, but then is eventually replaced by hair algae, which is an even bigger problem.

You could lose the plants, dramatically reduce the lighting, and go with more of a hardscape if it really bothers you.

Or add a lot more plants, encourage new growth, and let them out-compete the algae.

 

[adamsfishes]

Also, did you actually test your phosphates?

Another thing to potentially try is a UV filter.

PS. Cool fish, glad to see your are having fun with the little guy.

 

[GermanDude]

Congrats for purchasing the beautiful fish!
I find the diatoms very common in new tanks too.
Will last some weeks, maybe a few months.
They can be a little annoying, but just keep on removing and one day they are gone!

 

[BionicBroccoli]

Thanks everyone for the reply’s!

 

[Sean W.]

He's awesome. I'm looking forward to keeping a Fahaka one day

 

[Fat Homer]

Its great you got a snail colony going, but be careful feeding MTS to puffers as they have extremely hard shells that could possibly chip / crack a puffers teeth...