First Experience with Diatoms WOW!!

[CamDAX]

:spin2:

I know its normal to have diatoms in a newly established aquarium, but wow they appear fast out of nowhere! Just 2 hours ago there where no signs of the brown stuff and now its everywhere!

[nlgill13]

yep, they should go away in a couple of weeks

[Shaummy]

It will likely get worse before it gets better...but it will pass in time

[Squidmotron]

Congratulations on some of your first pets! Don't bother naming all billion of them. Their life expectancy in a reef tank is short.

[syrinx]

Yeah its crazy how quick they reproduce! Of course that is also their undoing- once they have used all the silica and whatnot to make their shells, its all over.

[Maxxumless]

Yep, it's called exponential growth. One bacteria can become million's in one day.

[Bpawl]

That's just the start, wait till you see what comes next!

[hogfanreefer]

Man that's nothing. My tank looked like some one sprinkled brown sugar by the sackful in it. It's aggravating but just give it time, it will go away.

[CamDAX]

I picked up some snails & crabs the other day. Three hermit crabs (I don't know their name maybe someone can ID?), three turbo snails, & one bumble Bee Snail. It's awesome watching them roam. It's so cool the Bumble Bee snail drew a line right through a patch of diatoms.

[MSreefdoc]

That is still rather mild. How long have you had it up and running? Mine was completely gone by week 4 or so on both of the tanks I have set up.

[CamDAX]

I started cycling on Dec 18th tomorrow it will have been up for 4 weeks.

[reefguy24]

If you want to get rid of them....get a couple of conch shells....the things with the elephant trunk.

They suck that stuff up like it was candy.

[DLANDINO]

Like others have said, they will go away in time. They feed on available silica so as their numbers increase, their food supply decreases until they eventually die of starvation. Good luck with the tank.

[Dan90]

I have this happening in my tank right now too. Should we leave the lights off or just keep them going.

[sh0ck]

lights off just postpone these initial cycles

[zsxking]

Mine just grow all over the glass. scrape it one day and grow back half full the next day. But never grow on sand bed though, weird.