20 gallon=diatoms everywhere

so my 20 has been set up a week, and now the diatom bloom has completely taken over the tank..everything i used was dry products and was seeded from my main tank..ammonia 0 trites 0..didnt check anything else..is it safe now to do a water change and transfer a couple hermits and snails to start cleaning..

also does it sound strange my tank has cycled in a week..the live rock i used was in my tank but has been in the garage for a couple months..ive heard stuff can live in there for a very long time..so what do yall think has my 20 cycled..

i never really had a diatom outbreak on my 30 or really any bad algaes on it when it was new..

 

The diatoms will feed off the silicates from the any new equipment and the new tank once they are consumed it will die back.

 

yeah i know that, but isnt the diatoms a sign of the ending of the cycle..so do i needa wait for them to rid before doing anything(water changes, CUC). or is my tank ok to now go ahead and water change and add a couple of snails and hermits.

 

no they are a sing of the start. my money goes on you havent even started ur cycal yet

 

NO.... you would have lost your money....


They are usually towards the ending/end of the cycle SaintsFan, you can do WC's and even add your CUC if your params are in check. What did you use to start the cycle?

Ex. of params that are in check would be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, reasonably low nitrates (WC!!), pH 7.8-8.4, etc. You don't really need to get into cal, alk, mag checking until you're going to get your coral.

 

just saying, you dont have to be going through a cycle to get diatoms, they appear when new silicates are introduced, as corailline said, like powerheads, thermometers, etc.

 

that what i thought..to bad i didnt bet..i have just read like 10 different forums and everyone said its at the end of the cycle...i shouldnt have had much of a cycle most everything added was dry products..i may have a little cycle from the rock but it was dry from what i could see, cant say much on whats in the deep crevices in the middle of the rock..

 

If you didn't add anything that would produce ammonia, you may have not gone through a cycle yet... you need ammonia to build up to start a cycle.

Dry goods can have silicates that cause diatoms, so you might need to cycle still.

If I were you I would put a dead shrimp(uncooked) from the grocery store in there and see if you don't get an ammonia reading with your test kit after that. If you still don't, there could be something wrong with your test kit. If you do get a spike in ammonia, follow the cycle until both amm and trites are at 0 and then you know your cycle is over for sure.

 

No, in addition to what others have said, diatoms just mean the pod population hasn't caught up yet. Diatoms are good, they are the building block of a reef. pods and your cuc eat diatoms, corals and fish eat pods etc... A lot of people actually dose silicates, one reason to do so it to encourage mild diatom growth and keep the reef fed. I'm thinking about this myself.

 

the'll die back quickly! most likely ...