Why are diatoms so evil?

[Grandczar]

I just got done reading the link I will list for you below. I am rethinking the whole diatom battle. Sorta reminds me of the highly successfull
"war on drugs"

Any thoughts or ideas on the subject are always welcome.

Click Here


If you have a moment pls read this!

 

[Anonymous]

Whose really "battling" them? There is a huge difference between desiring a low silicate concentration so that you can keep diatom growth to minimal levels, versus wanting to stamp out any growth at all. There is nothing wrong with having diatoms in your aquarium other than the increased maintenance so that one can physically SEE into the aqurium.

 

[allenfrenchy]

Those nasty diatoms make it really hard to see all the pretty animals in the tank. I think that is pretty much their downside. On the other hand they are the staple food of many snails. Without it the snails will not survive. I guess the reason to have the snails is to eat the diatoms, so I guess that is a circular argument.
Besides, they are pretty easy to clean off the glass. It's the corralline algae that is hard to scrape off and even harder to see through.

 

[danmhippo]

I am not battling them, & they are not evil. I am just making them aware that the front side (well, at the big side that faces me) of the tank/refugium belongs to ME. Nothing touches it but ME. If they want to mess with the front viewing area, they are messing with ME. When they messes with ME, I am gonna kill them, scrub them, scrape them, wipe them, and feed them to the hungry tangs, urchins, & pods.

I always make sure those young rookie diatoms get it never made same mistake twice. Some of thses rookie diatomes just have to make me to come back to check every month to make sure that they know I ain't kidding. I will sometimes pay them surprise visit to make sure there ain't no fricking cheating rookies around there! If I catch some of those darn basterds, I will grab the nearest razor blade and started chopping them off to pieces, siphon off the fricking body parts, dump it into the toilet bowl to SG & temp shock it. Then I give them a good acidic rinse to teach them never come back again!!!!!!

Those fricking pesty diatoms!!! Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........

(I think its time to change my signatures again!)

 

[Grandczar]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

There is a huge difference between desiring a low silicate concentration so that you can keep diatom growth to minimal levels, versus wanting to stamp out any growth at all.

Why even make low silicate concentration a goal? It takes more than silicates to grow diatoms. basically nutrients that otherwise will be utilized by much more undesirebale types of alage. Why single out silicates?
Why not keep high silicate concentrations and worry bout the other nutrients since the other algae's will not thrive off silicates.
Is there some benefit im overlooking by having a wide variety of algae growing in a tank?