Diatoms In Well Established Tanks

[ian]

Some say they will and others say not. I agree with the above, the cause needs treating. I also agree with Standby regarding upping the flow a bit to reduce the dead spots. Which tank is it in Matt? If it's the smaller tank, a school of Otos work best IMO/IME. If its the big one the may end up as food.

edit, it's the 240...sorry my bad for not reading.

 

[mattlee]

Some say they will and others say not. I agree with the above, the cause needs treating. I also agree with Standby regarding upping the flow a bit to reduce the dead spots. Which tank is it in Matt? If it's the smaller tank, a school of Otos work best IMO/IME. If its the big one the may end up as food.

edit, it's the 240...sorry my bad for not reading.

hi ian its both tanks to be honest mate.....

the big one has 2 x fx5 so plenty of flow and the 240 has 2 x rena xp3 so again plenty of flow. otos will become lunch in the big tank for sure and im sure wont last too long in the 240 as the ornatums and ebjd will soon be able to snack on them

in the big tank it actually collects on the fake plant that sits right next to the fx5 output nozzle and on the back wall where the flow is strong. but nowhere else in the tank. my single T8 tube is sat right at the back though so it must be to do with this but its only on for 6 hours.....

 

[ian]

do you have any spare power heads around?

This is what i'd do, up the water changes, clean what you can off (prior to water change), lower light (which you have), pop another power head in around where the Diatoms appear most.

 

[mattlee]

do you have any spare power heads around?

This is what i'd do, up the water changes, clean what you can off (prior to water change), lower light (which you have), pop another power head in around where the Diatoms appear most.

ive never used a powerhead before so i dont have any.........

the fish will be in their new tank hopefully at the weekend so im not too fussed about the bigger tank as such as everythig will be new including the decor etc so hopefully it wont start in there

can you reccomend a powerhead for the 240? is there a ratio of turnover per gallon?

i might get one for the new tank as well so any suggestions on power/size to get? (60x18x24)

 

[ian]

a lot of people have been using the Resun ones from Hong Kong or ones like these

http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium-1/aquarium-equipment/wavemakers/2500-litre-aquarium-wavemaker-powerhead.html

I think that would be slight overkill for a 240 with the other filters running. You'd need to be looking around 1000-1500lph. There doesn't appear to be any on Fleabay at the moment. Hydor do the Koralia range, but these are a little more expensive. There is also the New Wave brand, which are also quite expensive. Its up to you though mate, how much ar you willing to spend?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I agree, up the flow to eliminate dead spots, get a stanley blade on them before each water change and they shouldn't take long to get rid of. I had a nano once that got diatoms all the time so I put in a load of Hornwort for a few months and its never come back, plus doing extra water changes and changing the nozzle direction on the pump.

 

[mattlee]

a lot of people have been using the Resun ones from Hong Kong or ones like these

http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium-1/aquarium-equipment/wavemakers/2500-litre-aquarium-wavemaker-powerhead.html

I think that would be slight overkill for a 240 with the other filters running. You'd need to be looking around 1000-1500lph. There doesn't appear to be any on Fleabay at the moment. Hydor do the Koralia range, but these are a little more expensive. There is also the New Wave brand, which are also quite expensive. Its up to you though mate, how much ar you willing to spend?

if it stops the issue then i dont care how much it costs tbh.

just looked at the koralias and they do 900lph or 1600lph. 100lph either side of your suggestion

what would you suggest to put in a 5ft tank which is the new tank im getting?

 

[ian]

with the rest of the flow in there you could just opt for the nano imo, i'm not sure what the others think. As for the larger tank the http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium-1/aquarium-equipment/wavemakers/3000-litre-aquarium-wavemaker-powerhead.html would be OK, alongsdie the FX5's there is some cheaper ones on ebay though, they do come direct from Hong Kong.

 

[mattlee]

im going to add a nano power head and see how it goes. thanks.

just a thought would my blue LED moonlights contribute to this problem at all? they are on from about 2130-1200 so about2 and a half hours every night.

 

[mattlee]

ive been doing 50% water changes per week, had the tank covered 24hrs with large beach towels, cut the light to 5hrs, turned off the blue LED lights at night, added a koralia 1600lph powerhead and cut back on the feeding a bit.

and im still getting diatoms

any other ideas?

 

[mattlee]

yesterday i removed all of the play sand from the tank and intend to replace it with black sand. after a very large water change i removed all the anubias plants and threw them out, i also removed and thoroughly cleand the bogwood and items in the tank and scrubbed the glass. all to try and remove as much of the algae as poss to try and get a fresh start.... ive also turned the heat from 28 down to 26 hoping that this might also help

i honestly dont know what else to try after this. ive added a 1600lph koralia powerhead last week to try and get more flow in the corner and back wall of the tank too and the tank is still covered by a large beach towel during the day and the lights are on the tank for 5 hours. ive even removed the blue LED night lights i installed a while back to reduce the light in there.

ill give the filters a decent clean once i know the fish are settled after the hectic day they had yesterday with all the commotion to remove and dead leaves or sucked up food that can also add to the problem but after this i have no idea.....

 

[RRsTank]

Any update?