It's not a bad thing, but can also be a subtle indication of several things that
could be happening in the tank.
1) nutrient production has decreased due to less fish, less feeding, etc.
2) nutrient export has increased somewhere else, by another algae in the tank or the Refugium, or very likely by a live sand bed gaining greater life and effeciency. (What seems to some to be a "dirty" sand bed may actually be a sand bed full of living micro-organisms doing a fine job at clean up.)
3) The snails have gotten better at their job, cleaning the glass and heading home before sunrise. If a lot of snails were purchased early in the tanks life and few died, they grow and require more algae, and the algae grows less because of sand bed maturity, leaving the snails hungrier and hungrier. In some cases, snails may die of starvation, creating nutrients that help feed the algae for the rest.
Also, other organisms like copepods and amphipods could be helping clean the glass at night.
Do you think any of these things could be happening in your tank? It's a balancing act that, if watched carefully, will keep the tank looking nice for a long time.
Edited by Mark Peterson
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