Serious diatom problems

I have not tested for phosphates and I don’t even know how to test for silicates but in every single tank (6 tanks) there are diatoms. Every betta has been upgraded so my oldest tank now is nearly three months old and it actually has the worst diatoms. It’s to the point where it has killed some of my camboba (spelling?) and there’s just a thick coat covering most of the bottom. I have tried doing a few more water changes than the usual and it seems like it gets worse after water changes. People have told me “get nerite snails” but they barely touch it! Mystery snails are the bomb but they Get so big. I have pretty good lights I think. I have the Aqueon clip on LEDs and for my oldest tank (20g) I have the NICREW light from amazon. My water in all of my tanks is great, no ammonia or nitrite and I keep my nitrates around 5. None of my tanks are by windows now. I need help because it looks hideous and spend a lot of money on plants and I am not ready for them to just die.

The only other thing I can personally think of is to use the refillable 5 gallon spring water jugs. I really hate doing that because I have to go and refill them every week and they’re heavy and make things a lot difficult. I need suggestions on how to make that easier too, if any.

A couple of photos might help. Usually the more plant you have the less algae. I always try to have between 30-50% of the tank in plants. Then if you still have a problem look at natural light strike on your tanks. Natural light will always promote algae growth

Over feeding can add to it too. But yep pics would be good

The last two you can see it’s overtaken my plants

Is the stuff on the sand algae or waste organics (dead plant/poop)?

Brown algae is often caused like you said from silicates which are common in new tanks from the sand, glass and various aspects of silicone used in the tank and decor. Eventually the tank will run out of this and the algae goes away, you could try planting heavier with something like Cardomine Lyrata or Limnophilla Sessiflora (or both) to try and starve it of the available nutrients.

Wills said:

Is the stuff on the sand algae or waste organics (dead plant/poop)?

Brown algae is often caused like you said from silicates which are common in new tanks from the sand, glass and various aspects of silicone used in the tank and decor. Eventually the tank will run out of this and the algae goes away, you could try planting heavier with something like Cardomine Lyrata or Limnophilla Sessiflora (or both) to try and starve it of the available nutrients.

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It’s all diatoms, like a carpet lol. I will try planting those things you mentioned. The tank that is bad is actually a divided tank and on the side with water wisteria and hornwort, there’s significantly less diatoms. So I think you are definitely right that I need more & different plants