What The Heck Is This?

[phoenix3717]

Hello,

I've had my tank up for a few months and besides some hair algae, its been doing well. I was just looking at the tank and have no idea where this came from. They look like one long connected white ribbon going back and forth (see middle of pics). It seemed to appear almost overnight? Does anybody know what this is? Bad? Ok?

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[waldomas]

Snail eggs!

 

[Paintbug]

cerith eggs to be exact.

 

[Joe LoPresti]

Yep, looks like snail eggs to me too....

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

cerith eggs for sure...

 

[pony_killer]

now that problem was answered...what are your water parameters? looks like you got a high phosphate problem...are you doing weekly water changes to try and bring it down?

 

[phoenix3717]

thanks everybody, this is my first time into reefs so all this stuff is pretty new to me. do you think it'll be ok to leave them or should i put them in my refugium? I change water pretty consistently but know we don't test enough. We tested about a week ago and everything was good but we didn't test for phosphate, just nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, ph. Also in the tank are 2 marron clowns, a 3 stripe damsel, a yellowtail damsel, yellow goby, algae blenny in the tank as well. A clam, some polyps, candy cane corals as well.

 

[Icefire]

kinda overstocked with maroon that get big.
Might not help on nitrate/phosphate

 

[phoenix3717]

actually theres no 3 strip damsel but yea we know there are a lot of fish...could the phosphate be from the water i buy from the store? I buy purified drinking water from the store like 20 dollars for 120 gallons then mix it with instant ocean.

 

[drummereef]

Check the TDS of the store bought water. Sometimes it can be really high. Might be contributing to the hair prob.

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

phosphate is from fish food and fish wastes mostly, but yes, purified water may not mean RO or DI water and it is possible, so it's always worth a check testing the water that will be going into your tank to see if it is adding any fertilizer.

 

[phoenix3717]

yea, we figured it was better then the tap water here in Santa Clara which is high in nitrate. I was thinking of getting an RO unit where you can filter drinking water as well. any suggestions?

 

[phoenix3717]

oh yea, so should i move the snail eggs into the refugium to keep them away from the fish? or is it ok to leave them there?

 

[victor_c3]

At least at the stores I buy my water from, a lot of places will sell bottles RO/DI water. I'm not sure where I saw it for sale in the states, but in Germany it's usually for sale in garden and/or home improvement stores.

However, if I lived in my own house instead of renting an apartment, I would install an RO/DI unit of some sort.

 

[BrianCM]

I would leave them there.

 

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9321528#post9321528 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phoenix3717
oh yea, so should i move the snail eggs into the refugium to keep them away from the fish? or is it ok to leave them there?

leave them for the fish. the snails rarely survive in the average system. they are quickly filtered out, if the fish and other livestock dont get them first.