creeping bubble algae

The thing is it actually grows fairly well in very shady indirect light. It's a survivor.

I got mine long after all the other early algae outbreaks when running a fairly low nutrient system.
 
Squidmotron said:
The thing is it actually grows fairly well in very shady indirect light. It's a survivor.

I got mine long after all the other early algae outbreaks when running a fairly low nutrient system.
Click to expand...

Don't rain on my parade! :lmao:

That's exactly when mine took over. After all other algaes were done, it started. It was slow at first and I was able to keep it at bay by manually removing it. As soon as I let the phosphates and nitrates climb barely above 0, though, it really took off. I don't want to take them back down to 0, though, because the SPS didn't really seem to like that.

Just peeked in the tank and the emerald crab was perched in an acro. Early review on this guy for bubble algae control is poor to say the least...
 
creeping bubble algae

whiteshark said:
Don't rain on my parade! :lmao:



That's exactly when mine took over. After all other algaes were done, it started. It was slow at first and I was able to keep it at bay by manually removing it. As soon as I let the phosphates and nitrates climb barely above 0, though, it really took off. I don't want to take them back down to 0, though, because the SPS didn't really seem to like that.



Just peeked in the tank and the emerald crab was perched in an acro. Early review on this guy for bubble algae control is poor to say the least...
Click to expand...


man I'd be so mad if a crab started eating my coral...I boil it up and feed it to the cats lol

I too am in the same situation. I went through all the other algae phases including dinos and now this. I'm about to change the GFO weekly to see if that helps. how do people really get this stuff out of their tanks. it's popping up everywhere now...I'm really gonna have a freak out!
 
You know what I found? It loves to grow in the little crevices where I think detritus and excess nutrients can settle in..... so what I do now is occasionally take a small power head attached to an extension cord and go around my tank blasting all the rocks. As part of maintenance.
 
this stuff is evil, I've beat it then did a tank upgrade and a few months later it came back. it was everywhere even in my overflow where no light can get to.

I beat it again by manual removal, 1/4 inch rigid airline cut to a point (if you can find a thin wall 3/8inch that is better) dislodge and suck it out. one at a time for weeks on end and eventually you will beat it. crabs for me did nothing at all. you have to be diligent with water changes and feeding if you are going to win.

My tank is a 60G cube and I was doing two 10G water changes a week. One was sucking out algae and the second was turkey basting the rocks and then sucking out what I could.
 
Squidmotron said:
You know what I found? It loves to grow in the little crevices where I think detritus and excess nutrients can settle in..... so what I do now is occasionally take a small power head attached to an extension cord and go around my tank blasting all the rocks. As part of maintenance.
Click to expand...


I take a turkey baster and blast the rocks every week before the water change.

ryeguyy84 said:
this stuff is evil, I've beat it then did a tank upgrade and a few months later it came back. it was everywhere even in my overflow where no light can get to.

I beat it again by manual removal, 1/4 inch rigid airline cut to a point (if you can find a thin wall 3/8inch that is better) dislodge and suck it out. one at a time for weeks on end and eventually you will beat it. crabs for me did nothing at all. you have to be diligent with water changes and feeding if you are going to win.

My tank is a 60G cube and I was doing two 10G water changes a week. One was sucking out algae and the second was turkey basting the rocks and then sucking out what I could.
Click to expand...


I started doing the airline tube thing 2 weeks ago. I'm going to change my GFO/carbon again this week to see if that will help. too. I wanted to get a few frags this weekend but I'd like to get this under control before I add anything else.
 
I had a pretty good case of valonia in the tank. It would come and go, but it eventually took a pretty good foothold after all the other nuisance algea were eradicated. It took persistence to get it under control.

Keep hammering at PO4. It seems to prefer that over NO3. Even if your readings are low, if the valonia is still present, it's more than likely the reason for the low PO4 readings IMO. Then you need to mechanically remove it. I used a larger pair of tweezers to have at it, poking and pulling it from crevices. You'll see all the detritus it releases. The structures the valonia form are very effective at trapping this.

I left the powerheads running during this operation and much of the valonia would get trapped by the powerhead, where I could remove it and remove the valonia. I would then use a net to capture what ever is free-floating - like skimming a pool for leaves :) Again, leave powerheads running or they sink to the bottom.

It took repeated efforts, but with carbon dosing, some GFO and mechanical removal, it's finally in check. Still a little bit here or there, but it's mostly gone and under control and when I see any of those little green buggers, they get poked and dislodged because these are detritus traps that aren't wanted. Nutrient control in the water column isn't enough. They need to be removed or they trap their own nutrients.
 
Maybe I was just lucky, dropped in 2 Emerald crabs and saw a difference in 2 days, they have been in there for 3 months now and have not bothered my corals, the bubble algae still appears now and then but will disappear just as quickly.
 
ardsman said:
Maybe I was just lucky, dropped in 2 Emerald crabs and saw a difference in 2 days, they have been in there for 3 months now and have not bothered my corals, the bubble algae still appears now and then but will disappear just as quickly.
Click to expand...
Yeah you did get lucky. I had a few emeralds but never really saw them take interest in the stuff.
 
asudavew said:
I just keep adding emerald crabs until I got a couple that ate the stuff.
Not all of them eat it.
Click to expand...
Ah ok. How many did that take?

I was wondering whether the red Mithrax Crabs would eat it. At least that would add some variety :)
 
I went though 5 or 6. I have a 40 breeder. No more bubble algae.

I also removed what I could by hand.
 
Bubble algae isn't really controllable through nutrients. It thrives in ulns.

A foxface is your best bet. I've never had one that nipped on corals but I have heard of it. I'd get a small foxface and be done with it.
 
after 2 years of learning to coexist with bubble algae, I'd say the best most people can hope for without herculean efforts is to accept that you have it, you'll always have some in your tank. But do put measures in place to prevent it from becoming the only thing in your tank.

If you retain water conditions conducive to the growth of acropora in the long term (low nutrients, stable chemistry, etc.), remove it manually when it's impacting your rock work and corals, plant lots of corals that will eventually outcompete it for light and space, and introduce a couple of different predators that might eat it sometimes, it can become just another group of life that fits in to your tank's biota.

Unless it reaches truly plague proportions, it's probably the kind of algae that does the least amount of harm. It doesn't seem to have any allelopathic effects on corals - I've had corals grow right over it - and the big ones are easy to remove when they get unsightly. Over time (at least for me), it seems to settle down, only flaring up in large numbers once every few months. I kind of think of it like tank herpes.
 
It is part of a healthy reef. I shot this in Hawaii.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bS4Iqlx2n4A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I've never had all that much trouble getting rid of bubble algae. I'm not sure why it's a plague in some tanks. Caulerpa, on the other hand, took some time to remove.
 
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