Diatoms..

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I read somewhere on here, that the best time to add fish is once diatoms appear on your glass...2 questions..what are diatoms and how long will this take?

I have a combination of live and dead rock in my tank, how long till my dead rock starts gettin some life?

Thanks.
 
Snoek diatoms are brown type algae they normally indicate that your tank is cycled properly.

Diatoms (Greek: διά (dia) = "through" + τέμνειν (temnein) = "to cut", i.e., "cut in half") are a major group of eukaryotic algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although some form chains or simple colonies. A characteristic feature of diatom cells is that they are encased within a unique cell wall made of silica (hydrated silicon dioxide) called a frustule. These frustules show a wide diversity in form, some quite beautiful and ornate, but usually consist of two asymmetrical sides with a split between them, hence the group name. Fossil evidence suggests that they originated during, or before, the early Jurassic Period.
 
thanks copper, so the best way to go about this is to wait for the diatoms before adding fish? In addition to test kits confirming?
 
Diatoms will appear rather quickly, like before your cycle is even up. You will then notice little white bugs on your glass grazing on the diatoms
 
I added fish about 6 weeks after i started the tank Snoek, but i had diatomation as recently as 2 months ago. I'd suggest you slowly add fish to your system after 6 to 8 weeks. I'm unfortunately not that good with waiting (really bad habbit)
 
snoek your nano will take some time to mature because of the size
 
Snoek,

IME, I wait for the major Nitrite spike to return to zero. Then do a largish water change. Then your tank is ready. There might be a few small spikes in your nitrite readings but I haven't found them to be a problem.

But I like what I am reading here because I have enough diatoms in my cycling tank...hehe. Hopefully means I can start adding living things.
 
yea I've got the tiny white critters all over my glass, but don't see any diatoms. I am quite impatient too, however I've already learnt quite a bit about taking your time with this hobby, and i don't even have fish yet. So i'll give it sometime until the diatoms appear and then see wat happens.
Phat, considerin the size,would the cycle not be quicker?
 
Snoek have you had any brown slime algae? Also good question re the size. I also thought the smaller the system the quicker things happen. My nano in my study had diatomation in a week.
 
no slime algae, glass has been as clear as the day i setup the tank(more than 2weeks now), only things I see is some hair algae on the live rock now, but that is minimal and lots of pods on the glass and 3 tiny tiny snails.
 
snoek your nano will take some time to mature because of the size

:icon_bs:

The size of the tank doesn't have anything to do with it. What's relevant is the way that it is setup, quality of the liverock etc.

Regardless of size, the set up rules stay the same. Stocking is proportionate to the volume of water, and while parameters may be more volatile in a smaller volume good husbandry will ensure that the tank matures as quickly or as slowly as you let it.
 
in regard to nitrates, this is a question i've been meaning to ask, i have a Marine Lab test kit, and the nitrate readings are as follows:
high range: 12.5 low range 2.5
now how do i determine which is which?

hope this makes sense.
 
Snoek I'm not familiar with the test kit. Generally those titration kits give you a colour chart to work off, with each colour giving you a different value.
Nitrates ideally should be 0 but less than 10 would show that the tank is almost cycled.
 
in regard to nitrates, this is a question i've been meaning to ask, i have a Marine Lab test kit, and the nitrate readings are as follows:
high range: 12.5 low range 2.5
now how do i determine which is which?

hope this makes sense.

Hi Snoek, The two ranges are to allow for very high nitrate levels. Do the test as per the instructions and, should the result you get be more than 50 PPM, you have to rerun the test using 1ml of water diluted with up to 5ml of Ro water. You then use the scale on the high range side of teh colour scales.
 
thanks Kevin. will try that then. thus far 25PPM is the highest i've measured on there, the scale range has two results on either side, in this instance being 12.5high range and 2.5low range. so either way my nitrates are low then?
 
Low, but not low enough! Yes sure fish can survive in higher nitrate than corals, but just cause they can survive in higher nitrate conditions does not mean we should expose them to these conditions!
Get your NO3 all the way down to zero before you start adding anything to your tank!
 
Sorry about teh delayed response Snoek. Nitrates need to be zero or as close to zero as possible so your readings are actually quite high still.
 
cool, no plans on adding fish until nitrates are down to zero, will check today and post readings. About the diatoms tho'..still nothing in the tank.
 
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