Question

[jaylam]

So I have done 3 days of darkness on my tank, turned the lights on and all signs of Diatoms went.

Within a day I was getting it again.

I have moved my powerheads down the side of the tank slightly to create more flow over the lr as were they were before they we sort of going over it, will this help?

I was thinking over everything I have done before this started happening and I remembered I done a rescape before this started happening, moving the lr around some of which was half under the substrate, could this have disturbed things in the tank and kicked of the Diatoms?

I have tried everything and to be honest am tired of it now, realisticly how long would Diatoms normally take to go? Im prepared to give it this amount of time then im going to give up and sell up, really lost heart in it especially after all the hard work I have put in.

 

[woody88]

So I have done 3 days of darkness on my tank, turned the lights on and all signs of Diatoms went.

Within a day I was getting it again.

I have moved my powerheads down the side of the tank slightly to create more flow over the lr as were they were before they we sort of going over it, will this help?

I was thinking over everything I have done before this started happening and I remembered I done a rescape before this started happening, moving the lr around some of which was half under the substrate, could this have disturbed things in the tank and kicked of the Diatoms?

I have tried everything and to be honest am tired of it now, realisticly how long would Diatoms normally take to go? Im prepared to give it this amount of time then im going to give up and sell up, really lost heart in it especially after all the hard work I have put in.

Don't give up mate just give your tank a chance to sort it self out. Remember patience is the key.

Can you upload a pic so we can have a gawp of it!

 

[jaylam]

So I have done 3 days of darkness on my tank, turned the lights on and all signs of Diatoms went.

Within a day I was getting it again.

I have moved my powerheads down the side of the tank slightly to create more flow over the lr as were they were before they we sort of going over it, will this help?

I was thinking over everything I have done before this started happening and I remembered I done a rescape before this started happening, moving the lr around some of which was half under the substrate, could this have disturbed things in the tank and kicked of the Diatoms?

I have tried everything and to be honest am tired of it now, realisticly how long would Diatoms normally take to go? Im prepared to give it this amount of time then im going to give up and sell up, really lost heart in it especially after all the hard work I have put in.

Don't give up mate just give your tank a chance to sort it self out. Remember patience is the key.

Can you upload a pic so we can have a gawp of it!

I don't want to but im spending so much time trying to sort the tank out im neglecting my baby and wife.

Well I have just cleaned the substrate so you cant see much of it now but give me a few mins and will upload some.

 

[jaylam]

Pics as promised, on the plus side my leather looks like is had sorted it's life out.

Excuse the picture quality, I lent my friend my decent camera.

You can see some of it on the substrate also the red and brown bits on the rock.

 

[woody88]

I have seen worse mate tbh [like my tank a few weeks ago] what does your cuc consist off as a few hermits and snails will sort that out in no time.

As long as your phosphate is 0, nitrates are low and you have good flow in your tank [20x t/o min] then a good cuc will take care of that for you.

Good regular water changes with decent ro water and pro reef salt will help immensly also.

Honestly mate,going by the pics, not that bad imo!

 

[simonas]

thats not bad!!
mine was bad then cleared after a short while, stick with the maintenance and it'll probably just go on its own accord

 

[jaylam]

I have seen worse mate tbh [like my tank a few weeks ago] what does your cuc consist off as a few hermits and snails will sort that out in no time.

As long as your phosphate is 0, nitrates are low and you have good flow in your tank [20x t/o min] then a good cuc will take care of that for you.

Good regular water changes with decent ro water and pro reef salt will help immensly also.

Honestly mate,going by the pics, not that bad imo!

I had just cleaned it before hand so the worst of it was gone, im more concerned about it going all over the lr.

cuc is 4 hermits, 8 snails, cleaner shrimp, 4 peppermint shrimp and a chalk goby to sift the sand.

Phosphates according to 2 different test kits are 0, nitrates about 40ppm which I cannot seem to get lower. I do 20% water change every 2 weeks and clean the external filter out every week.

thats not bad!!
mine was bad then cleared after a short while, stick with the maintenance and it'll probably just go on its own accord

I know its a sort of a "How long is a piece of string" question but how long should I expect it to last.

I am starting to think that my re scape when I disturbed the rock and sand has caused this as it was fine before that.

 

[pirate monkey]

It doesn't look bad at all

Do you have any sponges or filter floss in your external? If so they could probably do with being rinsed more often then once weekly, try every 3 days and see if that makes a difference to the nitrates. Also, increasing your water changes will help vein the nitrates down. I personally think weekly water changes are the way to go

Do you make your own RO or buy it? Have you tested that for nitrates?

With your question of how long it will last, I'll be honest it could take a while, but keep doing what you're doing and try not to disturb the sand too much when you're cleaning it. Keep lighting to a minimum too.

Are you using a phosphate remover? How often are you changing it? You can get false readings for phosphates if you have algae in your tank!

Honestly though your tank looks great!

HTH

 

[jaylam]

It doesn't look bad at all

Do you have any sponges or filter floss in your external? If so they could probably do with being rinsed more often then once weekly, try every 3 days and see if that makes a difference to the nitrates. Also, increasing your water changes will help vein the nitrates down. I personally think weekly water changes are the way to go

Do you make your own RO or buy it? Have you tested that for nitrates?

With your question of how long it will last, I'll be honest it could take a while, but keep doing what you're doing and try not to disturb the sand too much when you're cleaning it. Keep lighting to a minimum too.

Are you using a phosphate remover? How often are you changing it? You can get false readings for phosphates if you have algae in your tank!

Honestly though your tank looks great!

HTH

I have 1 sponge and 1 filter floss in my filter which I clean weekly, would the filter still work correctly if I removed these and just left the filter media in it? and would that help?

I buy ready made sw from the lfs which I tested and its perfect.

That's what I thought and to be honest not sure I can continue as its just eating up all my spare time.

Yep using a Phosban 150, only had it in for about 3 weeks so the media is the same age. The instructions tell me not to clean it but when I start getting a phosphate reading or it starts increasing to replace it.