The Puffer Forum

Hi All,

My tanks has been established for about 6 months, Recently I've started to find that within a few days of a water change, my white sand gets covered in a brown/red dust like substance - the best way to describe it is the color of rust.

Do you know what this could be and how I deal with this problem?

Many Thanks,

D

I suppose it could be a diatom... can you post a picture of it?

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, here is a pic...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76054373@N05/9029270388/

D

Yep--diatoms. What are you doing to clean the sand weekly?

Woo diatoms...A.K.A excess nutrition

??? Diatom algae is the direct and necessary result of soluble silicates in the water supply. Yes, it will grow better with high nutrient levels in the water, but so will almost all other algae and plants. BUT soluble silicates are the absolute requirement for diatom algae. Water with high soluble silicates will always favor diatoms. Water with low or no soluble silicates cannot support diatoms. Ignore the erroneous post above which implies excess nutrient is required for diatoms - that claim is gross error.

Your water supplier will provide you with the levels of soluble silicates in you water supply. If high, you will always see some diatom algae with normal lighting, even with low nitrate, phosphate, etc. Water can be per-treated with Phosguard or similar product to remove both phosphate and soluble silicates. Some phosphate will then need to be added to the display tank if you want live plants. With moderate silicate levels, the problems will be less troublesome. With low silicate levels, problems should not exist with diatoms.

HTH

Here you go nice silicate read http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_ ... -water.htm