Brown Diatoms in Filter Intake

[MadameDesu]

Ick ick ew ew
In the past month, the clear intake tube of my Whisper 3i filter has started growing some sort of brown algae/diatom inside of it.
I've had issues with algae before (hair algae and pinkish slime), but I've been able to scrub them off and have them go away.
However, because this algae is inside the intake tube, I can't reach it to scrub it off. The best I can do for now is blast it with scaldingly hot water. That gotten a lot of slime and goobers out with this, but the brown spots remain.
What are my options? I've heard soaking it in bleach will help, but I'm kind of scared to try that.
Thanks!

[Oldfishlady]

As long as it is not impeding the water flow-I wouldn't stress over it.
Its normal and shouldn't cause any problems-its just cosmetic...

[BettaQi]

Eventually the diatoms will die bc they won't have a consistent apply of silicate to eat.

[MadameDesu]

Ok, thanks everyone! I actually did find a way to clean them out. I managed to detach the intake tube and then took one of those spoolie makeup brushes that people use to separate lashes and cleaned that. After it was clean, I just brushed everything out :)

[Silverfang]

bottle brushes also work

[MadameDesu]

A bootle brush would be better, but the spoolie worked in a pinch.