brown diatoms

[clk51212]

have a 75gal fowlr with a proflex 3 sump, swc cone skimmer 160 and running phosban. phosphates show.25 on api test kit nitrates show 20. getting brown diatoms and some brown alge on glass. tank is about 3 months old with 5 fish in it. I know know tanks will leach silacates from the glass. just want to make sure nothing else is up with water

thxs

[leebca]

It is a usual stage in the maturing of most marine tanks. They will reduce in numbers and may even be hard to find later on, but never go away. Reduce organics and dissolved silica in the water and keep a healthy herd of snails that eat them, in the tank.

Make sure that your source water doesn't continue to provide them with silica.

[jason081180]

if i find that my source water does contain silica, what can be done about it? just an RO system?

[leebca]

The silica ion can get through some RO membranes. So your answer depends on the membrane. In general though, this ion will be captured by a DI system for those types of ions or a dual DI system. In this case the right choice would be RO/DI water (water treated by both processes), or at least the right DI system, if the other contaminants don't pose a problem/concern.