# Diatom question: Is this still from cycling or too little light?



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I have setup a 10 gallon with 20 compact flourescent watts and diy co2. I am dosing EI. The plants are growing but so are the diatoms. The tank is about 9 weeks setup now. 

How do you know when this is not just a new tank algae outbreak or that you need to actually add more light. I don't want to add too much light if it's just a cycling thing, but I've never had diatoms last this long.

Edit: Oh and I have 0, 0, 10 (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates). It's been cycled for almost a month now.


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

I've never experienced a diatom issue from not having enough light. Also, 9 weeks is still in the "new" timeframe where I would expect to see a lot of diatoms. 

Just continue to ride it out.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Thanks, Jeffery. I am going to continue with my wait then. Waiting sucks. The poor HC is getting the brunt of it. But it is growing horizontally. :thumbsup:


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

sewingalot said:


> But it is growing horizontally. :thumbsup:



I think that's the tell tell sign that you are doing it right! :thumbsup:


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Yeah, if only I could convince myself the diatoms are pretty, I'd be set. At least it's just diatoms. Thanks again.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

They'll go away. Do you have some shrimpies in there to pick at them? Is CO2 up to the EI-approved level of 30 ppm?

Keep doing what you are doing and in 4 weeks you won't even remember them. (By then you'll be fighting other algae, lol).


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

get a few otos!


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

AlexXx said:


> get a few otos!



Well, in general fish are never the solution, and in a 10g, this is even more the case. No sense in sacrificing the bioload on some Otos unless you want them for there own sake.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

jmhart said:


> Well, in general fish are never the solution, and in a 10g, this is even more the case. No sense in sacrificing the bioload on some Otos unless you want them for there own sake.


Exactly my thoughts. A 10 is too small to go adding in random fish. Plus, I don't want fish in this tank right now, since I am still deciding whether or not to move over my yellow shrimp to the tank. 

Wasser - the co2 is running on borderline yellow. However, I decided to stop water dosing and to use root tabs only for now. I'm too lazy to remember to keep up with all these tanks. More and more they are all becoming low tech.


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## anastasisariel (Oct 4, 2009)

Fish may not be the solution, but at 9 weeks she isn't doing anything wrong she is just getting a normal outbreak. Ottos did help my tank at that stage because they helped keep some of my plants from dying. Seems like you have quite a few tanks.. could you borrow some from another tank just until the outbreak stops? I've had people say that MTS didn't eat diatoms, but mine went to work immediately even eating it straight off the sand where the otto's didn't touch and also they helped eat it off my glosso leaves which helped out a lot. Too bad you can't "temporarily" use MTS, lol.


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## pianofish (Jan 31, 2010)

Gday Sewingalot!


> Exactly my thoughts. A 10 is too small to go adding in random fish. Plus, I don't want fish in this tank right now, since I am still deciding whether or not to move over my yellow shrimp to the tank.


I guarantee ottos won't bother your shrimp. Strictly vegans, and they will zap your diatoms fast. I'm sure you probably know this already. But like anastasisariel said rent some and then do a return, easy solve. Ottos don't do a whole lot of bioload either unless you plan on getting alot of them.
Just my two cents,
Your pal,


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

True, ottos are the ONE fish that are 100 percent shrimp safe. If you add 3 ottos its really not enough bioload that it needs to be considedered IMO


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Perhaps you are right about the ottos. I could borrow the fish, but I really have the co2 up to yellowish in the drop checker and don't feel comfortable adding anything at the moment. 

The diatoms are slowly receding. The glass is clear but it is holding fast on the lower leaves and substrate. I'm patient at this moment, not really much more than a farm tank for my Erio type 2 anyway.


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## zenfish (Jan 29, 2006)

Did you just recently change your substrate by chance?? I recently with oil-dri,and like a dummy,I didnt rinse it..Never had brown algae so bad..The unfortunate thing is I cant keep my otos in the tank because they keep chewing off the top layer of my bamboo.They are currently in quarantine and loving it,I am feeding them green beans from a can...

But for brown algae OTO's cannot be beat.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

How much fish do you have in the 10G Sara?
I have the exact substrate and hardscape in my low-tech 10G & my high-tech 75G. The 75G has persistent brown algae (not much). The only reason I can think of is my 75G has a large bio-load, not quite overstocked but it's up there.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I didn't change the substrate. I started the tank with it. There is nothing but a handful of the typical snails that found their way into the tank.


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## prototyp3 (Dec 5, 2007)

Yeah, just let it run it's cycle. I just went through diatom hell in my 46g. Sure it's ugly for a couple weeks, but it will disappear as the tank matures.


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## kanvas (May 15, 2009)

Most people will say it's because of the new tank. Not so in my case, I bought a used tank and have had diatom for the last 2 years. Sometime it so bad that everything in my tank is covered in a layer of that brown stuff, sometime there's less but have never really gone away. So? maybe it's because of new tank or probably because of something completely different in my case.


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## prototyp3 (Dec 5, 2007)

kanvas said:


> Most people will say it's because of the new tank. Not so in my case, I bought a used tank and have had diatom for the last 2 years. Sometime it so bad that everything in my tank is covered in a layer of that brown stuff, sometime there's less but have never really gone away. So? maybe it's because of new tank or probably because of something completely different in my case.


Then I'd say your battle with diatoms in that tank is the result of something else, excess silicates/nutrients/organics, no real maturation of the tank as a result of constant replanting, too large of water changes, etc. Do you have other tanks that are fine? You could probably compare the differences and find the source of the diatom issues.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Diatoms are slowly receding. No other algae to speak of! I should get a picture up to show off.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Diatoms almost all gone! However, snails have overtaken this tank with no predators and lots of brown algae to snack on. A few torn leaves from the snails eating the algae off them, but overall in great shape. Only using diy root fertilizers at the moment and just now seeing a bit of GSA from forgetting to turn off the lights for 2 days. Dug out my timer since. :hihi: Don't you love the ugly tanks in my house?


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