Diatom Bloom

[uktrish]

I posted this in a response to someone else's post so it might got lost so I am posting it separately!

I have a newly established tank...one week and 3 days!!! I have live sand and live rock. I have tested the water and everything is as it should be. Yesterday, 1/20/09, I noticed the Diatom bloom. Do I just leave this alone or am I supposed to do something with it??? I was told by someone working at Petco that I should vacuum it out. What's the word from our resident experts?

Thanks for any help you can pass on.

 

[funkngroovy]

If you can remove some without disturbing too many rocks or sand, you should.

You should be doing very regular water changes at this stage of the cycle so that would be a good opportunity.

 

[uktrish]

Thanks.

I was going to do water changes once a week. Is that OK?

 

[davenia7]

What size is the tank?

 

[uktrish]

Hi,

It is a 29 gallon Oceanic!

 

[TimSchmidt]

Diatom bloom is normal and will clear up so long as there are no other contributors to algae growth (overfeeding, bad bulbs, no flow, bad water). A good clean up crew will resolve most normal issues too. I like nassarius snails as they live in the sand and do quite a good job at cleaning that section up.

 

[uktrish]

Diatom bloom is normal and will clear up so long as there are no other contributors to algae growth (overfeeding, bad bulbs, no flow, bad water). A good clean up crew will resolve most normal issues too. I like nassarius snails as they live in the sand and do quite a good job at cleaning that section up.

Thanks, Tim. When do you think it is safe to add the clean-up crew? The tank has been running for two weeks now???

Tricia

 

[TimSchmidt]

The only answer I can give is when it's safe. Test your water, there should be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and as close to 0 as you can get with nitrate (for corals at least, fish have *some* tolerance to nitrate).

Of course you should have a rise in all of these (a spike in the nitrogen cycle) and then the parameters will level out. This *can* take a very long time, but about a month is a good time to wait. Letting your tank *mature* is never a bad thing, it's just tough to keep them empty! :lol:

 

[uktrish]

Tough is the operative word! I have zero on everything and my sg is 1.022. This a brand new tank so I don't have to worry about the lighting being worn out! I will wait another couple of weeks and then...I shall start adding my critters!!!!

 

[TimSchmidt]

I personally have my water at 1.026 but I have seen tanks with levels just like yours. Any particular reason you came up with that number?

 

[uktrish]

1.026?!! Oh, wow. I just have the sg in between the parameters on the Deep Six hydrometer!!!

 

[KoNP]

1.026?!! Oh, wow. I just have the sg in between the parameters on the Deep Six hydrometer!!!

1.026 gets recommended everywhere lol, no idea. I run mine between 1.024 and 1.026 (fluctuates very slowly i.e evaporation, water changes not matching precisely, reef chemistry changing etc) and it seems to keep everything in there happy.

 

[TimSchmidt]

Consistency is more important than the actual number. If you keep the water near the same number as best as possible that is what is more important.

 

[davenia7]

I keep mine at about 1.026. By what I've read, 1.024-1.028 is the best range for coral bearing tanks. FOWLR can handle a bit lower.

For a 29 gal. tank, weekly WC's would be great. You will probably find you can push it longer. I would be testing your water regularly to determine how often to do WC's.

In my 10 gal., I've found 1-2 weeks are plausible. Closer to 1 week now that my fishes are growing up a bit.

In a 29 gal., if you keep your bioload lower, you might be able to go two weeks or even a bit longer. It depends on the bioload more than anything IMHO.

 

[uktrish]

I checked my water again today and everything seems to be perfect. I threw in about ten hermit crabs to eat up some of the stuff growing on the sand! I am taking this very slowly as I don't want to rush the process. I shan't add any fish for several more weeks. I keep having people tell me to add Damsels, but I am not going to. I want a peaceful community tank so I shall wait until I can add some Percula Clowns and a Diamond Goby.

Thanks!

 

[TimSchmidt]

One word of caution with the diamond goby. Mine is HUGE, almost 5 inches. I don't think a nano is a good long term home. Might be ok for a bit, but eventually I think it will need to move to a bigger tank. (They keep the sand SPOTLESS though, water will be *dusty* for a bit as they are constantly moving the sand through their gills)

 

[uktrish]

OMG...five inches long??!! How long did it take him to grow that big?! I think I am going to end up having to get rid of the nano tank eventually. Everything is going wrong on the darned thing. The pump is not working properly, I just put a brand new replacement hood on it yesterday and the actinic lights stopped working. I have only had the tank for three weeks! I never had this trouble before with my regular 50 gallon set-up a few years ago. It's an Oceanic Biocube.

Tricia

 

[TimSchmidt]

I am sorry to hear about the problems. My diamond goby was almost 4 inches when I bought him (for the 90 gallon) and grew about an in in the year I have had him. My friend hasn't had any issues with his biocube, so I know that they can work well, I'm just sorry you are having issues. A maxi jet 1200 is a nice upgrade to the standard pump anyways. And with the brand new hood, hopefully you purchased it from a larger vendor and then you should be able to replace it free.

Good luck with the setup.

 

[davenia7]

This is why I have never gotten into the all-in-ones. I really like my peicemeal 10 gal.. This is mainly bc if something goes to heck in a handbasket, I can just replace the problem peice and not figure out what to do with everything while I'm doing the returning tank and waiting for the new one thing.

 

[uktrish]

I thought it would save money buying an all in one system, but it looks like I am going to end up buying other stuff. I shall have to think about whether I want to get rid of it or not. Can you believe I have only had the tank for three weeks?!!