Hi Evelyn
yes.. you can scrub the decorations and vacuum the gravel, but at the same time you would be loosing beneficial bacteria that grows on these items.
If you are going to clean them off, including the artificial plants remember to only do a few at a time at water changes and not all of them at once. I have done that so many times.. and ended with mini cycles and the ammonia would shoot up like crazy and kill a fish or two from doing a major cleaning.
The diatoms will go away tho.. it takes about 4 months. Its just part of a new tank syndrome and will not harm your fish. If you wanted to add some oto fish, these little guys love to eat the diatoms! I've had them and am amazed at what these teeny fish can eat! Like little vacuum cleaners lol...
Nothing looks as great as a newly set up tank! Soooo clean... everything new and sparkly! but... in reality.. there is a lot going on in these tanks and an established tank never looks as nice as it does when its first set up.
You can always wipe the inside of the glass when diatoms end up there and a few plants at a time. Next water change, do the other items.
The next culprit to look out for is algae! Ohhh this housecleaning of our tanks.. it goes on and on!
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