[peachykeen]

Im about to throw this tank out the window, come home today and not only is the brown stuff still in the sand but there is a patch of red stuff that that looks a little like hair in my sand, what in the world is it?, its not attached to rock at all and a secondly, do I do anything to the new snail that has appeared in the tank, it hasnt moved since I found it in the cave where the other snail usually hangs out. i hope its good news, but i doubt it.

[smidoid]

I got the brown stuff in the sand. Probably just diatoms, they should go in time. The other stuff might be hair algae - can you get a picture?

[optical]

thay brown stuff is nasty. i had it for about a month when my tank was relatively new. i used "chemi clean" and it killed it within a few days. i siphoned it out and it never came back! instant success. i was doing heavy water changes and heavy skimming and that didnt work, so i went the chemical route. the snail might still be alive, but if its dead i would take it out unless you have something that will eat it like a hermit or cleaner shrimp. take it out and if it reeks, its dead.
dont throw the tank out the window though.

[smidoid]

What's in chemi clean then Optical? I read it's meant for Cyanobacteria not diatomic algae. Course, that the problem with these microscopic organisms - you can only see them by the million! :slap:

[optical]

dont know whats in it dude. magic maybe. it basically removes cyano bacteria(red slime)-the red patch that looks like hair on their sand bed. chemi clean also oxidizes trapped organic sludge and sediment and clarifies the water. it promotes ideal enzyme balance.

[peachykeen]

hope you can see it well, hard for me to get good water pics, havent mastered that yet, if its the hair algae, is that good/bad and what do i do?

[SKRIZ]

have to tried aiming a powerhead at it? or towards it anyway, so that there is turbulance around it?

[peachykeen]

moved powerhead toward spot, and checked out the snail and looks like something got him already. im going to have to research the snail reproduction stuff and the ind out what to do when they drop one, but with my luck ill never get another one seeings how everything is going wron, getting very discouraged!

[sihaya]

Looks like cyano to me. Like the doctors say "when you hear hooves, think horse, not zebras."

[optical]

dont sweat it peachy, its a minor detail that can be corrected.
snails aint @#$%! they come and go. everyone looses something eventually, its inevitable. i know from this forum that poeple loose thousands of dollars in corals even with superior knowledge and excellent conditions in their tanks. some things are beyond our controll. be patient and you'll get the hang of it. try to get your habitat as symbiotic as possible.

[smidoid]

Originally Posted by optical

dont know whats in it dude. magic maybe. it basically removes cyano bacteria(red slime)-the red patch that looks like hair on their sand bed. chemi clean also oxidizes trapped organic sludge and sediment and clarifies the water. it promotes ideal enzyme balance.

Just worried about copper mate. I'm not too keen on chemical additives. I don't (yet) have cyano. I've got diatoms but they were expected; esp. given that my Rowaphos fludiser went south! This sounds like something worth looking out for when the dread bacteria hit.

[peachykeen]

whats cyano and thats a bad thing huh?, remember im a newbie, havent heard of it before. another questions, 199.00 too much for 150 halide light

[sihaya]

Cyano is short for cyanobacteria... it's bacteria that looks like slimy algae (you could call it "macro bacteria" I suppose lol). It's not "bad" per se. New tanks will get it really bad for awhile, but then it will go away... then it might come back a little every now and then. Generally it's not something to worry about. If it starts growing over your corals, you can just blow it off with a turkey baster. But if you start getting lots of it and it doesn't go away in a few weeks, you might have a "nutrient" problem or something else outa wack.

$199 is not bad for a 150watt MH light provided you're getting the pendent and ballast and everything.

[sihaya]

Though, obviously, it is nearly impossible to tell from the photos. I mean, it's a purple blob... that could be a lot of things. But if it's not moving and doesn't appear to be a creature of some kind... I'd guess 95% of unidentified purple/red blobs in newbie tanks are just cyano.

[c04r4l0v3r]

Originally Posted by peachykeen

Im about to throw this tank out the window, come home today and not only is the brown stuff still in the sand but there is a patch of red stuff that that looks a little like hair in my sand, what in the world is it?, its not attached to rock at all and a secondly, do I do anything to the new snail that has appeared in the tank, it hasnt moved since I found it in the cave where the other snail usually hangs out. i hope its good news, but i doubt it.

Hey Sihaya,,Good news for you i just joined this web site today and your algae problem cought my eye...So i did some home work for you and heres what i found on www.wetwebmedia.com. Very good web site for beginers. Well, without a photo, I'm really just guessing here. It could be Gelidium, which is a typical "nuisance" algae. Or, it could be something more exotic, like Halymenia or Geldiopsis. These kinds of algae are really not favored by many herbivores; you may need to utilize "harsh" grazers, such as urchins. Even they may not do the trick. Often times, manual extraction is the best bet. Happily, these algae are often self-limiting, and tend to decline on their own over time, in the presence of good husbandry habits! If you can get a pic for me, we can give a better shot at ID'ing this algae

[sihaya]

What? Dude, I don't have an algae problem.... I think you meant to say "peachykeen."

[c04r4l0v3r]

yes im sorry just tryin to help lol

[sihaya]

No prob... I just didn't want peachy to get confused thinking maybe you were refering to another thread. I guess I've been hanging out at MD too long where posts kept mysteriously going to the wrong threads. lol

[optical]

he said you had an algae problem. haha

[c04r4l0v3r]

ha ha ha you so funny optical