Originally Posted by Alvin Koh

Hi all, thanks to all who contributed, especially blue33 (from AQ) via PM.

I was monitoring quite closely the past 10 days and didn't want to make any premature conclusions thus there were no immediate updates until today.

I am glad to report that the UG/diatom issue is mostly resolved.

Understanding the situation better, my primary change was to increase water changes to once every day for the past 8-10 days while keeping the lights constant (actually increased to 39w x 3 tubes).

After searching online, I realised that diatoms are not as light-dependant as I'd thought. Since they are free floating and coat most surfaces, manual removal via water change was the best method (algae eaters don't seem to work too well with UG).

Noticable changes:
1) 50% water change daily.
2) Brushing of hardscape, glassware, tank surfaces stirred up alot of floating particles, but I used a fine filter mesh at the outlet to catch the floating debris.
3) Added additional 1KG BioHome to my filter and replaced the fine filter wool (clogged with diatoms / soil particles).
4) I've kept up with my dosing regime (NPK + Seachem Equillibrium which includes more K), dosing (50-100%) more than usual since 50% water change is daily, so nutrients are being diluted more frequently.
5) Added Seachem Excel at twice the recommended dosage for algae control.
6) Re-introduced Amano shrimps (previously, they were uprooting my UG), to uproot/get rid of all the unhealthy rotting UG. Within 24 hours, about 80-90% of my UG was gone. Hehe.

My aim was to keep the water clean, and to let the other plants continue to thrive without light starvation. I'm happy to report that other than the residual diatoms hidden in pockets of spaces within some of the denser plants (e.g. HC), the tank is back to a healthier state.

I will update again soon with photos soon. Cheers!