ceg4048 said:
Hello,
Diatom algae has nothing to do with silica in sand or tap water. This issue has only to do with the light intensity and your problems will only continue to mount if you persist with this level of lighting. You need to reduce the lighting intensity and improve flow/distribution and CO2 if this is an enriched tank. Diatom algae in a tank start-up is neither automatic nor inevitable. It only occurs because the hobbyist insists on looking for excuses to use too much light.
Cheers,
Could it be a combination of too much light and organic's?
I ask this because I have seen firsthand, diatom's in newly established tank's without any light at all in some tank's I have started.
Why does it appear to go away of it's own accord in many tank's if too much light alone is the culprit?
Have helped start perhap's dozen's of classroom tank's where the diatom's come and go without decreasing the light.
No,, I do not believe it ONLY occurs as you say ,when too much light is used but am open for enlightenment