Most diatoms continue their life cycles via an obligatory sexual phase. During the formation of the gametes or soon afterwards, the cells slough off their cell walls, setting them free to expand. Meiosis takes place during the formation of the gametes, as in higher animals including humans.

Bacillariophyceae

Although most diatoms are autotrophic, some heterotrophic or symbiotic species can be found in particular habitats. The living matter of each diatom is enclosed in a shell of silica that it secretes.

Diatoms that have a special structure, called a raphe, are able to move over surfaces. These diatoms can move over fine grains of sand, or within the mud of a tidal zone, or even on other diatoms. Diatoms have differing abilities to move, depending on the species.

Diatoms are divided into two groups that are distinguished by the shape of the frustule: the centric diatoms and the pennate diatoms.

In general, Brown Algae diatoms will not harm your fish if you keep them under control. Some fish do like to eat these diatoms and can help to clean up your tank, but Brown Algae is generally not good for the home aquarium environment. Patches of diatoms will generally make your tank look less appealing.

regarding the photosynthetic nature…that’s true but so is algae and it doesn’t disappear at night. It just seems like a strange occurrence. That has more to do with the cell structure than anything else. Some Dinoflagellate strains also disappear when the lights go out and come back when back on.

Nope! You have nothing to worry about. Diatom algae can not kill fish themselves however they can hurt the plants in your aquarium. Diatoms are a sign that something in your tank is off though.

Fiddler Crabs (Uca pugilator) – Fiddler crabs are small crabs, usually less than two inches in size, that are found predominately in the salt marsh. They live along the sandy edges of salt marshes. They eat bacteria and diatoms (algae). Their predators include blue crabs, terrapins, fish, raccoons, and marsh birds.

Active Member. Mine lasted 3-4 months off and on, even though the tank had cycled almost a year before I started adding fish and LR and I had very stable water parameters.

Very carefully remove all plants and ornaments from the tank, leaving only substrate (rocks or sand) and hardware (filters, heaters, and so on). Wipe the diatoms off the surfaces of the hardware and try to scrub it out of the rocks or sand to the best of your abilities.

Yes, they can block the plants’ leaves from receiving light and kill them that way.

Many algae eaters just love to eat diatoms, too, amongst them all algae-eating snails and shrimp, as well as the different species of suckermouth plecs.

It helped me eradicate brown diatoms from my planted tank, I put some on my canister filter on a media bag. For better results pre-filter new water before is put into the tank. I cut a large plastic bottle on the bottom and I put the phosguard in a media bag inside, pour water thru it into a bucket and is good to go.

The short answer is “yes” the Phosguard can cause problems that will lead to the deaths of fish and invertebrates.

Continuous use of small quantities is better than intermittent use of larger quantities. It is not recommended to overdose PhosGuard, as this can lower phosphate levels too rapidly and stress sensitive invertebrates.

There should not be any ongoing significant impact of Phosguard on pH. Reduced phosphate may somewhat increase the demand for calcium and alkalinity, but I suspect the pH effects you are seeing are either a one time effect or are coincidence.

Neither PhosGuard™ nor any other phosphate remover can be regenerated by any safe method in the home. Baking a phosphate remover, even to over 900 F, will not remove any of the phosphate it contains. PhosGuard™may be removed, dried, and reused, if it has not exhausted.

PhosGuard™ needs to be replaced every 4 days as long as there is a phosphate problem because, given an infinite amount of available phosphate, PhosGuard™ absorbs phosphate so quickly that it reaches its full capacity in 4 days.

PhosGuard could leach aluminum indefinitely, especially considering the media gets changed regularly. Skimming might remove the PhosGuard.

Whilst they won’t have any negative effect running them together you Should be aware of what you doing to your water.

PhosGuard™ absorbs phosphate, and while fish are more-or-less ambivalent about phosphate levels, plants and corals are not. Moderate your use and monitor the fish for signs of stress during initial use. Red: This product is either notably stressful or utterly unsuitable for these tank inhabitants.