Diatoms :(

I've never. Had them before but I redid my mantis tank a while back and now I've got them what's to be done ?

 

Get some Cerith and Nerite snails....
For my 110g this is what I have:
150 Dwarf Ceriths - tiny, but effective cleaners - less than what it sounds like, is about a full handful or a little more
8 Nassarius
38 Florida Ceriths
19 Large Nerite and 10 Small to Medium Nerites

That takes care of it.

 

I would just wait them out. They will die of and go away on their own. You can do as stated above and get a CUC, this will speed it up some. I just added a new power head in my 55 that is almost a year old, and wham a diatom bloom. Went away in about 5 days. As soon as the silica is used up they die off.

 

Yea it's in my 20g and it always had a small cuc but I upped the crew last week with som Nass vibex , 40 juv cerith , it also had 15 or so blue legs 2 limpets and some nerites

 

so the increased flow stirred things up and caused the bloom?

(just wondering if that is what had happened to me recently).

 

No the plastic or silicate form the new power head started them up. Happens when you add a anything plastic. Sometimes they will pop up from stirring things up though.

 

thank you for the clarification

 

Do you have a protein skimmer? Recent research suggests that most of the skimmate is likely a byproduct of diatom harvesting. see interesting article here: Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Feature Article: Elemental Analysis of Skimmate: What Does a Protein Skimmer Actually Remove from Aquarium Water?

 

They should die on their own in a few weeks. But you can get some snails to help eat some of what's there if the diatoms are really bothering you.

 

Ah so I bet it started because of the PVC burrow. I made for the mantis then when I saw the bloom I added a k2 lol more plastic ;( the h20 change I did yesterday seemed to help as well