You could try putting the power heads at in the front corners pointing back at the rock to get more direct flow. That may loosen up some of the detrious. Also in my experience coraline grows better under flourecent lighting and since you do not have any it my take a while to get going.
I also had problems with algae and at times I wanted to quit, but the problem is gone now and I love my tank and am glad I stuck it out.
As far as snails go I could never seem to keep them alive either and now I just don't bother.
Good luck with the tank.
By the way I like the aqua scaping you have done. It looks really good.
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Manuel
it's not the size of the fish, it's the motion in the ocean!
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