Tank imbalance-Diatom Battle

[evonner]

Mmiller2001, this chart is in your tank journal.  Now, I'm so confused. 

Lol, you did. I copied the photo out of your journal,  lol. But I've seen it before when I new in the hobby. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 12/13/2022 at 9:58 AM, evonner said:

Do you use CO2

I do.

The diatoms will just go away once the tank matures. The best things you can do is keep up maintenance, and increase the plant load. You will never be able to starve out algae, diatoms and the sort. You will starve the plants long before that happens and in return feed the algae what they want.

The pH KH chart assumes no other acid sources, just the carbonic acid created through co2 injection and the relevant pH drop. These charts are poor indicators as the process of nitrification creates weak acid in the tank.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Mmiller2001

[Patrick_G]

@evonner, your tank actually looks pretty good. Diatoms can be annoying but I think the best way to control them is weekly manual cleaning, regulating your light and adding more plants. From what I have read, the most common cause of diatoms is high phosphate and/or silicate and in my experience they disappear with time. It's tempting and even fun to play chemist, but don't get to deep in the weeds, some patience and weekly maintenance will hopefully get rid of those diatoms! 

Oh, and don't forget a cleanup crew. Otocinclus catfish love to eat diatoms. 

[evonner]

My phosphate is 1.0 ppm in my tank and tap, so that's out. I ordered a silicates test kit, it should be here tomorrow.  I found out that my tap water comes from 3 huge wells that are tapped into the snake River and underground springs. I can't find reports to give me the testing information from the city and the last one was in 2021. I was able to learn a couple of things but not everything. This tank is over a year old and I have never had any type of algae and I've always done weekly w.c. I'm pretty crazy about my aquatic friends. Your tank looks great.

[Patrick_G]

A few more questions and I apologize if you’ve already answered them previously.

What type of light are you using and how long are you running it each day?
Also, can you post a close up picture of the diatoms? In the pics I see a bit of brown algae on the glass, but it doesn’t look unusual, about what I’d expect for a tank that’s essentially been reset 4 months ago. 

[evonner]

Lol, I just got down cleaning the tank. So them little nuisances are gone for a minute.  I'm glad you asked about my light because I have been trying to figure out what it all means. I just bought a new 29 gallon tank and I have been buying all the equipment except the light. My 10 gallon is only like 12 inches tall and the 29 gallon is 19 inches and that matters but that's about all I can figure out. So my 10 gallon is a fairly new lighting system.  I was using the hood lights but they are only 1.5 W LEDS and I wanted plants that need at least medium lighting. I have the  Hygger 24/7 mode submersible but I don't have it submerged, it's suction cupped to the hood. It's a full spectrum with 3 rows of lights, 7 colors, sunrise, daylight, moonlight, can run the 24 hr or use adjustable timer and brightness. 12 W, has 72 LEDS.  24 RGB, 33 white with Kelvin 6500, 11 blue 455 nm, 1117 lm. Right now it's in auto mode. Sunrise at 6am to 8am, day light 8am to 6pm, moonlight 6pm to 10:50pm. It gradually ramps up and down. I snapped some shots just now.  I treated my Driftwood with peroxide that why it looks weird. It looks bare cuz I'm bleaching their cave.

[Patrick_G]

On 12/13/2022 at 6:29 PM, evonner said:

Right now it's in auto mode. Sunrise at 6am to 8am, day light 8am to 6pm, moonlight 6pm to 10:50pm. It gradually ramps up and down.

That’s about 10 hours of “daylight” and 17 hours of total light including the sunrise, sunset and moonlight time. Probably the most basic thing you can do to tame your algae is to use less light. I’d say start out by trying 7 hours on a med-high setting. Some folks might suggest 8 hours or 6, but the important thing is to cut back on the light. Also, I’m not sure of the science behind it, but it seems like algae loves the blue light so skip the moonlight mode altogether. 
 

 

[evonner]

My UV sterilizer just arrived, so I'm gonna play with it and get it in my tank.  According to everything I've read this should help as the one I purchased even kills multi cell bacteria (like diseases).