Diatoms

[leeandstacie]

Evening I have added some coral sand to my nano aquarium and will prob add some live rock this weekend but before I do I have been reading some stuff about diatoms and how to manage them. Can they be prevented or are they part of the cycle? and how easy are they to clear up

Cheers in advance, Lee

 

[DigitalStorm]

Unable to prevent them! They're not harmful and will either burn themselves out or after you've cycled your cuc will sort them out. Cerith snail worked wonders on mine.

 

[steelhealr]

Diatoms are nothing. They are normal, expected, non-dangerous and part of a new startup. In fact, I love them. When I see them, I don't even have to test my water. I know exactly what my nitrate level is. SH

 

[Betta5]

Turbo snails have cleaned my whole tank of diatoms in like a week and I got it really bad (I use tap water and I have playsand). Aslong as you have a CUC you should be fine.

 

[DigitalStorm]

Diatoms are nothing. They are normal, expected, non-dangerous and part of a new startup. In fact, I love them. When I see them, I don't even have to test my water. I know exactly what my nitrate level is. SH

expand further the cryptic ending?

 

[leeandstacie]

Thanks for info I am currently doing research on CUC. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on what works best and not to much to much in.
Do you buy cuc as a package normally?

 

[DigitalStorm]

You can do - but I reckon it's overkill and they'll eventually starve when the've sorted your tank.

As an estimate, I have a tl550, and I have 3 red-leg hermits, 3 cerith, 3 narsiuss and one cleaner shrimp. See last page of my thread for a full tank pic.

Not too dirty ;0)

 

[seffieuk]

In an established tank if you start to see diatoms your nitrate levels are higher than they should be, so action needs to be taken (hence, no need to test as you can see the result of high nitrates)

Seffie x

How rude of me - to the salty side Lee and Stacie