Yip. Diatoms matches the web research, never had them before for some reason with previous new set-ups ? Just wish I could get a better understanding of my current water parameters ... PH looks like 7, KH was between 2 and 3, but have now increased this with Prof's KH Up to 4. GH is a bit of a mystery, as I cant judge from the Serra kit, never seems to turn green, starts off golden colour and gets progressively browner the more drops you put in 5, 6,7, 109.. who cares. lol ! Will do further reseach on Diatoms and I thought the week-end was going to be down time!
Diatoms are pretty fascinating bits of aquatic life(Takeshi Amano - and others - has done some amazing macro photography of some) - up here in Gauteng with our harder water they are almost par for the course in new tanks... they dissapear soon enough as they use up the free silicates in the new tank... i find it takes round 3 weeks - the only problem i have with it is that it tends to persist on plant leaves,requiring a bit of elbow grease to get off - SAE's do a good job on it too - ottos as well...
