Brown Diatom - Leave It / Hoover It / Turn It Over?

[csjasona]

Hi all

Got new brown diatom on substrate, glass, rock, etc. Easy to remove from the glass and I guess the rock will get cleaned by the few crabs and snails. But what about the glimmering white substrate? Should I "hoover" this up with something like the Eheim SludgeExtractor (arriving tomorrow), leave it alone (will it all go on its own?) and "turn it over" as if it were soil - but wouldn't that just push the algae deeper into the substrate and make more of it brown, at a deeper level?

how many CUC do I need for a RSM? Right now there are 4 hermits, 2 turbo, 2 little snails (I think they are supposed to sand-burrowing types though they seem to spend most of their time on the glass!) and 4 shrimps. Do I need more? Anything specifically to clean up the substrate of this yukky brown stuff?

 

[Crazy fishes]

I have a lot of natural light on my tank ( which is incidently unavoidable) and every 3 days or so have a brown mat start to form. I turn over the substrate gently and that seems to work. The algae which I push down seems to die off because presumably lack of light. Have been doing it from the last 2 months and it has been going fine.

Regards

 

[littleme1969]

If its the tanks first cycle then just leave it. Its part of the process and will only grow back the next day anyhow. It will fade over time as the tank settles and the clean up crew will help. can take a good few weeks to completley go though but its food for anything in there in the meantime.

 

[csjasona]

And what snails or any other CUC specifically likes to eat that from the substrate? I have a couple of turbo snails that stay on the rocks and there are some tiny snails that like to burrow into the sand with their "trunk" sticking up through it - what are they? Only 2 or 3 of them though, and it's a 130L tank so I guess I need more.

 

[littleme1969]

Hermit crabs are great for all round clean up. The cheap blue legs are the best IMO even though they are a bit grumpy with each other, they dont bother any thing else in the tank. Eventually once your tank is established, about 6 months or so, and if you have plenty of sand area you can get a sand sifting star. These do a great job of turning over the sand bed but should only ever be put into a mature system and they will also need to be given extra food.
Snails are good for rock work and glass and thats about it

 

[@ombomb]

the burrowing snails sound like nassarius, mre interested in scavenging than grazing algea. hermits are your best bet for cleaning the substrate ime, i would recommend either red or blue knuckle

 

[piranha_trader]

Apparently Im not paying my CUC enough because Im experiencing a pretty significant bloom of the red mat/hairy essence type. Its annoying because it grows so friggen fast. I have one of those Ferris Oxide filter mats in one of the chambers and its not making a darn bit of difference, honestly. Ive been actually removing matts altogether but perhaps I should try the burial technique. Problem with taking the matts out is that a good amount of gravel is removed during the process.

How do the members here feel about other chemicals/additives to add to the tank? Any recommendations? Would using FO pellets in a sock work better?

Please advise.

 

[littleme1969]

Red slime algae.. Theres not alot that eats that , though I have heard the cowrie snails sometimes do.
Its a water chemistry issue, so you should be testing both nitrates and phosphates and treating accordingly. Water changes are the quickest way but can work out expensive if you are doing it daily . So invest in some type of phosphate binder to help along the way. Macro algaes can help to control it over time and are great in a sump of some kind. Or depending on what type of fish you have/will be having you can add the to your main tank. Tangs and macro dont mix they will just got noshed in no time. A maturing tank will have lots of algae issues and its just a matter of managing them along the way and learning as you go. Do as many tests as you can to try and pin point something you can tweak. If you have fish and are feeding, then reduce this if possible.
Just give it time with the tweaks but if it does not shift after a long time then there are types of anti biotics out there just for the job. PM SKIFLETCH as hes used these before and can advise you better. But I would only ever use as a last resort.

 

[piranha_trader]

Red slime algae.. Theres not alot that eats that , though I have heard the cowrie snails sometimes do.
Its a water chemistry issue, so you should be testing both nitrates and phosphates and treating accordingly. Water changes are the quickest way but can work out expensive if you are doing it daily . So invest in some type of phosphate binder to help along the way. Macro algaes can help to control it over time and are great in a sump of some kind. Or depending on what type of fish you have/will be having you can add the to your main tank. Tangs and macro dont mix they will just got noshed in no time. A maturing tank will have lots of algae issues and its just a matter of managing them along the way and learning as you go. Do as many tests as you can to try and pin point something you can tweak. If you have fish and are feeding, then reduce this if possible.
Just give it time with the tweaks but if it does not shift after a long time then there are types of anti biotics out there just for the job. PM SKIFLETCH as hes used these before and can advise you better. But I would only ever use as a last resort.

Excellent. Much thanks

 

[nanoreef11]

Nassarius snails I have found are the best for the sand cleanup. The go on the glass every once and a while but mainly stay in the substrate. I also bought a diamond goby to help with my substrate algea problem and he is amazing. Havn't had any problems since he was added. He sifts the sand through his mouth, pretty neat to watch too.

 

[Anguilla82]

i wouldn't turn over the sand to hide the diatoms as you're not getting rid of it. I would suck it up when you do a water change.
As others have said, check your water chemistry. High phosphates and Nitrates are common causes of nuisance algae.
Try and sort the root cause of the problem out rather than just dealing with the algae else you may never get rid of it.
I am currently fighting against the red stuff.

 

[dilbert]

Even if it's tedious and probably almost impossible in a bigger tank, the best way is to take the algae out by hand - siphoning the substrate and rocks or picking them up. I pickup the red slime sheets on the sand from low flow areas with tweezers the same as bubble and hair algae from rocks.

That removes the phosphates they needed to grow out of the tank. The same way as you prune a Chaetomorpha ball you remove the nuissance algae.

The clean-up crew will remove parts of it but the phosphates keep in the tank - converted to poo only that gets eaten by detritus eaters and the phosphates still keep in the tank.
In my view, the clean-up crew helps to remove things difficult to catch because it's so small like parts of detritus or it's difficult to reach. They should be selected regarding the special needs of every tank. Simply buying cleaners and hoping they will solve general algae and water quality problems is too naive, IMO.

My hermit crab Herman eats actually red slime algae but only if he's really hungry and only at regular portions (area of the size of a thumbnail or maybe two, daily). Maybe too much of this stuff in excess causes diarrhea.