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Re: [APD] brown algae (diatoms)



I believe Bryan Nielsen wrote this email section below:

I have an ongoing problem with diatoms on my plants and glass.  It's
not terrible but I would like to get rid of it.  I have a 72 gallon
tank with a 4x65w CF coralife fixture.  I run 2 bulbs for about 12
hours and all 4 bulbs for 4-6 hours a day.  The bulbs are 3 months
old.

I'd reduce the time the lights are on. 12 hours is very long time.
Reduce it to 10 hours and see how you get on.


Last time I checked pH was 7-7.5, ammonia 0 ppm, nitrates - 0 ppm,
phosphate 0 ppm.  I spend a lot of my time testing water quality but
don't pay very close attention to my aquarium.

Diatoms like eating silicates, so using a Silicate remover in a filter may help.

BTW, are you sure it's diatoms? Nitrifying bacteria can look awfully like diatoms. I had this problem in an heavily stocked tank. I had brown slippery 'algae' over my plants and on the ornaments for 6 months. As soon as I put a larger filter in, it all disappeared.

--
Stuart Halliday
http://mytriops.com/
200 Million years in the making...
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