Hi Folks,

I just put a couple pounds of silica sand on top of my plant tank's
flourite substrate. In so doing, did I just commit a grievous error
vis a vis encouraging diatom growth? I would think silica sand is
darn near nonreactive in water, but now I'm paranoid.

My plant tank's still new. Even before adding the silica sand there
was slimy brown growth on some plant leaves; this I self-diagnosed as
diatoms.

Water:
Nitrates: dosed to 12-15ppm
Phosphate: dosed to 1ppm
KH 4.5
GH 2-3
K - kent potassium dosed 1.5x dose
Traces added weekly with Seachem Flourish

Water change 20-30% weekly, using NYC tap water.

Lighting is 4x65W dual daylight, over a 75 gal tank.

--Trapper