problem with diatoms

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T

thedarkone

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 10, 2010
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Spokane
We are having a real problem with our 90 gal tank that houses our 5 GSPs. In the last couple of months we have been having really bad out breaks of diatoms. We clean the tank and do water changes and with in 2 days it starts again. If any one could give me any advise on how to cure this issue it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
BTW, just so you know, they are going to outgrow that 90G... considering that one should have 30G to itself... as for the diatom problem, if you find out let me know, coz i've had diatom problems in some of my puffer tanks from time to time till i scrub the whole thing down top to bottom...
 
Is 90 gallons too small because of aggression or something? GSP's only get about four or fine inches long and chunky, right? I'd think 90 gal could take six if that's all that's in there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the math seems good for this setup.

Diatomic algae typically goes away on its own after a few months, but aside from scrubbing, you could try to identify sources of phosphate and other minerals the diatoms need and reduce those. This is ironic, but tapwater can actually contain what diatomic algae loves, so big water changes may actually act as fertilizer. Add some java moss (does brackish just fine!) or other hardy plant to compete for nutrients and go back to normal water changes to control nitrates. That's what I would do, anyway.
 
^ Close, but they actually grow to 6.5 inches once fully grown, but besides that aggression and the fact they are crap factories is what can really cause problems in a 90G in the long run...
 
Oh. That's a whole different story, then, for stocking. But the algae should still be fixable for now.
 
Fat Homer;4074787; said:
BTW, just so you know, they are going to outgrow that 90G... considering that one should have 30G to itself... as for the diatom problem, if you find out let me know, coz i've had diatom problems in some of my puffer tanks from time to time till i scrub the whole thing down top to bottom...
Click to expand...

I know they are suppose to grow to 6" but we've had 2 of them for two and half years and they are both just under 3". So about a year ago we bought another pair, one of those is about 2" and the other one only seems to get wider and not longer. The last one is a juvie, about 3 months ago my wife was at Walmart and saw all the puffers dying and decided to save one from either dying in a Walmart death tank or getting bought by someone who has no idea how to keep puffers.

Does anybody know their growth rate, because it seems to us that their growth has completely stopped except for the little one.
 
Can't tell you exactly how fast they grow, but i have heard they are quite slow growers compared to others...
 
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