1. A green tint on rock or/and sand leading to green fuzz, leading to hair algae: this is, yes, hair algae---and this is from the phosphate in rock and sand dissolving out. It takes a while to dissolve rock, even in salt water, so expect this to go on a while. YOUR ANSWER: a gfo reactor, a fairly cheap cylinder that mixes water with granulated ferrous oxide, which absorbs the phosphate and starves out this particular breed of algae. It won't affect your cheatomorpha in the fuge.
2. a babypoo brown blush on your sand: diatoms. THis is almost inevitable. Time, and not overfeeding, elimination of phosphate, cleaning the sandbed (nassarius snails do this) and generally patience, good chemistry and good habits, like always using ro/di and having a good skimmer going.
3. a dark red (color of dried blood) stain on sandbed, or a dark sheet with air bubbles---cyanobacteria---a periodic pest in most tanks, but no big deal: it harms things mostly by depriving them of light. Turn out your tank lights for 3 days, do this once a month until the problem leaves---and keep your skimmer operating well. If you have corals, do a 4th day of blues only. Then resume normal lighting schedule. Do this once a month. Nothing eats this stuff. But you can clean up your tank by a general practice of good chemistry.
4. bubble algae often follows cyano---and again, nothing eats it enough to matter unless you have a 3 gallon nano. In a large tank, fahgeddabowdit. Just be patient and keep up your water quality. Eventually it goes away on its own.
5. appearance of small white dots or spirals or spikes---just one of those odd creatures that distinguishes marine rock. SOme people with zoas worry about them. Those with lps can pretty well ignore them. Some fish think the little worms that make them are delicious.
6. bristleworms. THese are good guys, even essential to a healthy tank. If you have too many, don't kill the worms! they're saving your tank from a hyper-nutriented mess. They'll die back when the food supply runs out. the only bad worm you're apt to meet is not distinguished by bristles, but by a set of tentacles on its head---tiny tentacles: that's a eunicid, and that guy should go. There's a completely harmless worm that has long, long wavy tentacles like an octopus, and another that pokes a trunklike tentacle out of rocks: good guys---spaghetti worm and peanut worm.
7. hitch hiker crabs: if hairy or if one claw is distinctly mean-looking, put them (or their rock) in the sump: helpful down there, but they'll not be good reef citizens.
8. white puffy stuff or slimy film: nutrient excess: watch your feeding. 'Tune' your skimmer's efficiency. Remember---your fish may ACT hungry: they're like cats and dogs in that respect. But remember BREATHING is more important than eating.
9. coralline: if you have an acrylic tank, don't be too enthusiastic about having it: it's a pita to get off acrylic, where you can't use a razor. An old credit card makes a good scraper. It's a good thing on the rock, where it lends color. If you do want it, keep your magnesium somewhere between 1300 and 1500 and of course, have one bit of corallined rock, and a decent supply of calcium. I use Oceanic salt, which is high in both, and I have to beat coralline back with a stick. Even my snails are going pink.
10. never expect a cleanup crew to do anything but poo into the sandbed to keep its bacteria strong. They do NOT clean algae worth a darn. The name is highly misleading. What they are is an 'undertaker' squad---if you lose a fish, you will rarely find it. Ever. They will munch it, poo it, and it will disappear into the sandbed as minute particles of snail and crab poo, and reappear as a few bubbles of nitrogen gas headed for the surface, as the sand bacteria works. A good cycled tank is biologically 'hot' enough to dispose of a fish within 24 hours if it goes down. A marine reef never has fish belly-up and floating: they're down, the snails arrive, and the crabs, and there is no more fish in pretty short order. THAT's why they're called a cleanup crew.
2. a babypoo brown blush on your sand: diatoms. THis is almost inevitable. Time, and not overfeeding, elimination of phosphate, cleaning the sandbed (nassarius snails do this) and generally patience, good chemistry and good habits, like always using ro/di and having a good skimmer going.
3. a dark red (color of dried blood) stain on sandbed, or a dark sheet with air bubbles---cyanobacteria---a periodic pest in most tanks, but no big deal: it harms things mostly by depriving them of light. Turn out your tank lights for 3 days, do this once a month until the problem leaves---and keep your skimmer operating well. If you have corals, do a 4th day of blues only. Then resume normal lighting schedule. Do this once a month. Nothing eats this stuff. But you can clean up your tank by a general practice of good chemistry.
4. bubble algae often follows cyano---and again, nothing eats it enough to matter unless you have a 3 gallon nano. In a large tank, fahgeddabowdit. Just be patient and keep up your water quality. Eventually it goes away on its own.
5. appearance of small white dots or spirals or spikes---just one of those odd creatures that distinguishes marine rock. SOme people with zoas worry about them. Those with lps can pretty well ignore them. Some fish think the little worms that make them are delicious.
6. bristleworms. THese are good guys, even essential to a healthy tank. If you have too many, don't kill the worms! they're saving your tank from a hyper-nutriented mess. They'll die back when the food supply runs out. the only bad worm you're apt to meet is not distinguished by bristles, but by a set of tentacles on its head---tiny tentacles: that's a eunicid, and that guy should go. There's a completely harmless worm that has long, long wavy tentacles like an octopus, and another that pokes a trunklike tentacle out of rocks: good guys---spaghetti worm and peanut worm.
7. hitch hiker crabs: if hairy or if one claw is distinctly mean-looking, put them (or their rock) in the sump: helpful down there, but they'll not be good reef citizens.
8. white puffy stuff or slimy film: nutrient excess: watch your feeding. 'Tune' your skimmer's efficiency. Remember---your fish may ACT hungry: they're like cats and dogs in that respect. But remember BREATHING is more important than eating.
9. coralline: if you have an acrylic tank, don't be too enthusiastic about having it: it's a pita to get off acrylic, where you can't use a razor. An old credit card makes a good scraper. It's a good thing on the rock, where it lends color. If you do want it, keep your magnesium somewhere between 1300 and 1500 and of course, have one bit of corallined rock, and a decent supply of calcium. I use Oceanic salt, which is high in both, and I have to beat coralline back with a stick. Even my snails are going pink.
10. never expect a cleanup crew to do anything but poo into the sandbed to keep its bacteria strong. They do NOT clean algae worth a darn. The name is highly misleading. What they are is an 'undertaker' squad---if you lose a fish, you will rarely find it. Ever. They will munch it, poo it, and it will disappear into the sandbed as minute particles of snail and crab poo, and reappear as a few bubbles of nitrogen gas headed for the surface, as the sand bacteria works. A good cycled tank is biologically 'hot' enough to dispose of a fish within 24 hours if it goes down. A marine reef never has fish belly-up and floating: they're down, the snails arrive, and the crabs, and there is no more fish in pretty short order. THAT's why they're called a cleanup crew.
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