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Lighting and diatoms


maligne
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Iv had my 55 gallon set up for almost two years now. Iv gone through lots of phases. It started out as a planted tank and I had a glorious honey moon phase for about 4 months and then the diatoms came. I thought I tried everything to get rid of them. Water changes chemical filtration, cleaning. I spent a lot of money and eventually ripped all my plants out because they where covered in diatoms and black algae. I did hours upon hours of research. Last year I set up a second 15 gallon tank right beside the 55 and I ran it for a long time and I never had a spec of anything. It was always crystal clear. The only thing that I did different was the light. On the 55 gallon problem tank I used a fluval led strip that came with the kit it is 8000k. on the other tank I was using a cheap 6 inch national geographic led strip Temperature unknown. I shut down the 15 and switched the lights in November and have not had a problem on the 55 since. The light is attached to the 15 gallon hood and is not ideal for the 55. So my question is Why? and I need a new light what should I get? I have been looking at the current led satellite plus. .. Cheers 

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Diatoms are very common in new tanks, the real truck is to have something that eats it.  Bn plecos, ottos, and snails (nerite, ramshorn, pond) will make quick work of the diatoms and their constant foraging stops it from taking hold again.

You didn't mention dosing any fertilizer, this is important in planted tanks.

What did you mean by black algae? 

The current satellite leds are good lights and have some cool effects.  One 4' model would work well and you can brighten/dim if need be.  Another cheaper option for low-med light would be a 2 bulb 4' t8 shop light from somewhere like home depot.

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I have a current USA satellite pro+ and it is a well-made and quite powerful led that has served me well. I can't speak from experience but normally I hear about diatoms in tanks with too little light. The current ... plus light should take care of that. I do find that at the top of the tank, where the light is the brightest, I get green filamentous algae. Since it is not spreading I don't mind and I consider aiming for a 100% algae free tank is a recipe for frustration. A more active "clean-up crew" could probably also help keep diatoms as well as green filamentous algae under control. I'm looking at enlisting the help of some nerite snails myself.

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Ya im not expecting to be algae free but the 55 turned into a big mess and I worked hard to combat it. Everything in my tank was brown. I used pool filter sand originally and I thought it was silicates from that that was causing my problem but it wasn't I used it in my 15 gallon with no problem. I actually like the little spots of green algae I get on my rocks and stuff. Its a pretty colour and it gives my tank a natural character that I appreciate. Its the brown slim that I hate. The black algae was black beard algae and it is what actually caused me to tear the planted tank down it basically killed all my plants. A lot of this happened after I stopped dosing ferts. It was a low tech tank with anubius java fern and some jungle val. Im just running a cichlid tank right now. now live plants just fake. I have a pair of acara's . once I get things sorted out I would like to slowly introduce live plants again starting with the anubius.

 

Thanks for your replies!! its helpful

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