Or live snails for that matter :?

go with the fighting counches i had 8 of them in my tank here is a picture of the tank with red slime go to this addresshttp://www.reefaquariumguide.com/forums/showthread.php?s=8cfa8968cfaaf323be610b904b1c4805& threadid=12854&perpage=15&pagenumber=2
:cry:

You can try chemi-clean it worked for me but you also have to find out why and fix the problem.I did a couple of things that helped me.increase water flow/less time with the lights on/a lot of large water changes/and changed skimmers. I had a berlin skimmer and went to a euroreef.My algea has been gone now for just over a month and hope it will not come back.

Mike

Damn, you had 16 sq^ft of open sand bed.. wow..

Steve

Sounds like Dinoflagellates alright...All Algae are a combination of 4 basic ingredients - Light, Phosphates, Nitrates, and CO2 (carbon dioxide). There are other ingredients depending on the species involved (e.g. Diatoms need silicate for their shells etc.) but Dino's have cellulose shells so there is no angle to work them there. I would suggest you keep your KH high, dose Kalk to precipitate phosphates, and cut back on your nutrient input from food, water source. Maximize your nutrient output and clean up and out...make sure when you clean them off that you are getting them out of your system, not just freeing them to float around, decay, and produce more. Good luck.

Stephen

What's so special about the fighting counches? Now I'm gonna have to look them up and read about them. It's interesting that J&L don't have them listed at all (not even under Reef Custodians).
But if they will help with the problem and are suitable for my tank...I will get a few.

Thanks.

Michael

What is so special about them? The short answer is that they do a H*** of a job keeping your sandbed free of algal growth. We have gotten Queen Conches from J&L, but Queens can get a lot bigger than Fighting Conches. I got my FC from SWC. :wink:

I have have used Chemiclean in a fish only system, worked great. In my 20 gallon I had a serious brown algae, bubbles, then it turned to cyano.This was after being set up for 8 month, no skimmer. I did water changes, suction etc. to no avail. I finally broke down at the advise of LFS and used maracyn(erythromycin). The Cyano was gone in 3 days. I then began using local purified water only for top offs and water changes and installed a red sea skimmer. My tank never looked better, and has been flourishing ever since! :D