Tim

Diatom. Seems to be a hot topic. The story so far.... I think I have decided that the brown spots my tank has are indeed diatoms. 1, they wipe away very easily. No scrubbing or abrasive pad necessary. Sponge works fine. 2, time frame seems about right. Tank is almost 2 months old. My question is this: Will florescent lights contribute to the growth of diatoms more, less, or equally to an incandescent bulb? My light (florescent, 15watt) gets turned on about 7:00am and I turn it off usually between 11:00 pm and midnight. I do not have live plants in the tank. Will cutting down the time the light is on decrease the growth? Will they really go away after a period of time? How much can a single Otto cat eat? Are they a viable solution to the diatom question? Currently, I have 3 Scissor Tails and 1 dwarf male gourami. Other tank info listed in the Aquarium Info. of my profile is current as of 9:00 pm EST 02-07-2008.

capekate

Hi Tim
yes, indeed it sounds like Diatoms. Im not sure if turning down the light usage will help or not, someone should be able to give you the answer on that one. I found that ottos really worked out well on taking care of the Diatoms. I can actually see the patches, like a mower going thru the lawn, cleaning up the diatoms, the otos are quite the lil worker bee's. I had three of them in my 29g tank and they did a good job. Did they clean it all? No.. they just helped. I still had to do housework myself lol.. BUT...they sure do like to eat the diatoms and they are fun to watch in the tank too.
I leave my lights on pretty much the same amount of time, and after the six month period, I had no more diatoms. So cant say that the light is affecting them as far as the growth goes. Other wise I would still be dealing with diatoms in my tank.Tho light does affect algae growth, so will have to see what others have to say.

~ kate