Diatoms and trace amounts of silica?

[corsi1330]

Any ideas on this: I have 2 tanks on 1 system. I have been fighting a diatom problem on my display tank and not my frag tank "same water". I have tested my water in both tanks, sump, make-up water with a silica test kit and come up with trace amounts. I run GFO and even sent my water to a online service which also confirmed no silica. The only difference in tanks is one uses MH and the other is T-5's. My system is over a year old anyone with any thoughts on how to make this go away? Thanks in advance.

 

[Reeferdood]

I have seen certain types of bulbs cause this, Current in particular..
I would be willing to bet it is your lighting... Old bulbs can lead to big issues..

 

[corsi1330]

I have seen certain types of bulbs cause this, Current in particular..
I would be willing to bet it is your lighting... Old bulbs can lead to big issues..

I run a Current Outer Orbit fixture??? With there 10K bulb 250w.

 

[Reeferdood]

Just an observation.. I had 6 customers that had diatoms & after switching to different bulbs they went away. Not sure how old the bulbs were since I did not install the fixtures. But, if the tank is sharing the same water & the only difference is the lighting, seems like the only logical answer..

 

[gilmour01]

could be the old bulbs brian. i hadnt thought about that. i thought you bought phoenix bulbs?

 

[BlazinNano]

I agree about the current bulb. I have the Aquapod that I ran the stock bulb for 8 months. I could never get the hair algae to go completely away nor the diatoms. I got a AquaMaxx bulb now and it had been a month and the tank looks a lot cleaner. Change the bulb.

 

[corsi1330]

Just an observation.. I had 6 customers that had diatoms & after switching to different bulbs they went away. Not sure how old the bulbs were since I did not install the fixtures. But, if the tank is sharing the same water & the only difference is the lighting, seems like the only logical answer..

Thanks for your help. I am not a fan of this bulb/balast combo anyway. I was thinking of switching to a Ice cap ballast with 14k Phoenix or 12k reeflux and this could be just the excuse I need to do it.

 

[Reeferdood]

No problem, always glad to help!

 

[litenyaup]

old bulbs bro...happened to me with the diatoms, even the same fixture!!

 

[corsi1330]

could be the old bulbs brian. i hadnt thought about that. i thought you bought phoenix bulbs?

I did run the 14k phoenix on it for 4-5 months and did not have diatoms for the fist couple of months. I have been rolling with the stock Current bulb for the last couple of months. Maybe this magnetic ballast overdrives these bulbs so hard they go bad quicker?