Update on 44g longboy # 4

[HotTunaCartel]

Ended up getting a massive diatom outbreak I noticed it a little a few weeks ago and it has got out of control since then.  I have a phosphate test kit coming Friday but I'm not sure what to do in the meantime.  Been doing water changes and cleaning as much as I can off before the water change and vacuuming it up.  I see Otocinclus is great for this, obviously I have to test first but its nuts, I'll clean a lot of it and its back to the same level a few days later. 

Tank is only two months old but this is insane lol.  

 

[eatyourpeas]

It could be due to too much light. How long is your light on for? Is the tank getting any natural light/direct sun? Long tanks are on the shallow side and you may need to adjust for it.

[HotTunaCartel]

On 11/30/2021 at 7:07 PM, eatyourpeas said:

It could be due to too much light. How long is your light on for? Is the tank getting any natural light/direct sun? Long tanks are on the shallow side and you may need to adjust for it.

Thanks for the reply.  I'm currently running 50% with no blue light on a fluval 3.0.  I do occasionally get sunlight from the window about 15 feet away in the winter when the sun gets low.  

Edit: forgot to add the tank is 12" deep with about an 1.5" of substrate 

Edited December 1, 2021 by HotTunaCartel

[eatyourpeas]

How many hours is the light on? Cutting the light period to six hours works for me when I need to get rid of diatoms.

[HotTunaCartel]

damn sorry I forgot to include that.  I have 8 hrs total with 30 mins intro and 30 mins out.  

I can try cutting it down to 6 hours for several weeks to see if that helps