Does Playsand Cause Diatoms?

[Betta5]

I read about it but then went on to read that it didn't. Now I set up a small tank using the same tap water a year or 2 ago and used agronite(sp) sand and TBH only had very small ammount of any algae. This time, I used playsand and the sand and rocks and now glass is just becoming covered in diatoms. Im guessing because of this, it would suggest that playsand does cause brown algae.

So does playsand cause diatoms? If so, does anyone know how?

I actually quite like it on the rocks though as it gives the white ocean rock and more real look.

 

[-Nemo-]

Play sand contains silicates... Diatoms use silicates...

Makes sense to me

 

[Betta5]

This is exactly why I should ask about these things lol

It looks like an explosion at the coco pop factory at the moment.

I take it, this is just going to keep growing and I just have to keep cleaning it as best I can?

When I upgrade I will ditch the playsand.

 

[-Nemo-]

You may always have some degree of the problem. May I suggest something to sift your sand?

 

[Betta5]

Is that so the sand doesn't look so bad? I will do that tomorrow just before the waterchange, so if anything is thrown up I can clean it out.

Also Is it OK to use an unused regular sponge to wipe down the inside of the glass. I do it in my FW tanks but as im noticing more and more, SW and FW keeping are not as similar as I thought.

 

[ben1987]

some play sand is safe to use, some isnt even aragonite. when skifletch was around he knew a little test for it.

 

[-Nemo-]

Aragonite sand will dissolve in vinegar

Quite spectacularly, might I add.