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Filamentous diatoms - please help, on brink of giving up

Ammonia and Nitrate are 0, tank was cycled with ammonia in advance of adding plants. I had about 4 weeks of no algae and no issues and then this all started. Nitrates from my tap are approx 25ppm but I dont know how to measure silicates.
 
Melll said:
Are you on Instagram?

If so check out @okisback a video from 3 days ago.
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Is that Oliver Knott? I saw the video on facebook - he just seemed to twirl it out which will work on the quantity I now have but it sometimes rips plants out with it. I think I may just have to accept this though and have new plants ready to replace when I can. My plant bill since setting this up is well over £200 now so there is a bit of a limit to it...
 
IamAHill said:
but I dont know how to measure silicates.
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You can get a silicate test kit. Diatoms are caused by excessive ammonia and silicate, and you seem to have ruled ammonia out.

Have you tried the suggestion of fast growing stems just floating in the tank? I’d give up on a carpet for the time being. Throw lots of fast growing plants in such as egeria densa. You could also put in floaters like duckweed or amazon frog bit. Anything that grows and multiplies quickly.
Diatoms are a pain and you feel everything you do at the start is being wrecked, but they will go as long as you keep on top of it.
 
IamAHill said:
Is that Oliver Knott? I saw the video on facebook - he just seemed to twirl it out which will work on the quantity I now have but it sometimes rips plants out with it. I think I may just have to accept this though and have new plants ready to replace when I can. My plant bill since setting this up is well over £200 now so there is a bit of a limit to it...
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Yes it is, I`m not on the book of face so didn`t know he posted it there also.
 
IamAHill said:
Just ordered it thankyou :) do you think something like this would be worth using https://www.swelluk.com/jbl-silicatex-rapid-400g/ ?
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The only problem with that is silicate removers also remove phosphate. So you’ll resolve one issue and start another one with fluctuating phosphates.

I too am struggling with diatoms but have not tested for silicates. I have tremendously cut down the amount of diatoms with the addition of my nerite snails alone. I have a 40 breeder with 20 in the main tank and 5 in my sump to give an idea. They are also olive nerites not the fancy kind. I find they work harder and are smaller in general
 
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Don’t give up, i first hand know how frustrating it can be. And coming from someone who never wanted to hear this himself, you need to really be consistent and meticulous with your maintenance. Removing dead matter, doing your water changes, cleaning the glass, keeping your filtration clean (removing gunk and buildup). And if you are doing all those things great, keep it up. It will slow down given time. I’ve only until recently listened to the “have a clean up crew” saying, and it’s paying off. Don’t rely on a clean up crew to solve the problem, they are just there to supplement and keep the issue at bay.
 
So had a bit of a rescape. I took out the stump at the back left and added some new hardscape and planted a bunch of fast growing plants. That was on Saturday and this is now. I wasnt able to do a water change between Saturday and Thursday so I'm feeling reasonably confident that I am on the right track now. I really planned the last scape, I did the wood on the tank box lid, I had diagrams of where I was planting etc where as with this scape it was done quite frantically and I've quite enjoyed that and can see changes I want to make already.

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thanks Andy
 
Oh and the limnophillum on the right is only there temporary while some helenthiam tenelum fills in :)
 
You know the only real bummer with this scape is your intake and output location blocking the view. Could you relocate them to the other side in the open space? Just a thought
 
I know what you mean - i could move it to the right side maybe do the intake at the back and the outlet at the front? Only problem is that side of the tank is visible in the room.
 
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