green bubble algae!

oneradtek202

oneradtek202

Pitcher Hill Reef Society
ok so after my red valonia was defeated, i guess the green valonia decided to go rampant. I think it happened when a huge random bubble burst, and now its gotten EVERYWHERE.

any tips? its the small tight cluster type. I was thinking about making mats out of the coral puddy and encasing the colonies of GBA. any particular animal that could handle this? i already have a purple tang that eats red valonia and got rid of it. crabs? idk open to ideas.

i know about nutrient cut backs and such, but thats not the issue since i have a SPS reef with good water quality and huge changes.
 
Someone is sure to bring up Emerald Crabs, so I'll do it first, but IME, they aren't worth the trouble they will cause. The last one I had was ripping out tentacle from my Todd's Torch. You can guess how that worked out for him. (He had also survived SEVERAL Interceptor treatments, quite a fighter).

I think that nutrient export is your greatest ally. Like valonia, avoid popping them if you can.
 
yea but theyre everywhere as it is. , and like i said man, i already have low nutrients and they are still goin nuts
 
I am tagging along on this. Everyone says emerald crabs, just pick them or inject them with boiling water. The last two are no easy task when they are everywhere and hard to reach or on coral.

Last year it was another algae issue which seems to disappear with good husbandry, but this year its green bubble algae for me too. I just tore my skimmer apart to make sure its in top shape. I also cut back one auto feeding a day. Next I am going to clean to buildup and sand from my refugium to see if that is the cause of my excess nutrients.
 
I had a foxface that ate it. Didn't know they ate it when i bought. Cleaned out my whole tank then started on a little patch of hair alge and cleaned that up as well. Not sure if this is the norm for them tho.
 
Tagging along as well. I have some big bubbles as well as small ones I can't get to, so manual removal won't work. I don't feed much and do regular water changes.
 
Yay! I can't wait for someone to post a genius answer here! :)
I've got this in my 29g and have also been looking into a solution. Emerald crabs always come up, but I've been very hesitant to add one - and this thread has so far corroborated that feeling.
Right now my solution is the "these things come in cycles" theory - so.... I'm just waiting it out. Sometimes I remove them (carefully!) by hand, and it they seem to be coming off more easily lately - don't know if that's because I have more and they come off more easily in clumps, or because they're not as strong and healthy.
The ones I hate the most are the big ones ensconced in the branchy rock - impossible!

Just remembered - I have a tuxedo urchin that mostly stays in the sump, but.... when he gets a little display time, he always picks up bubble algae - then I just steal it from him and throw it away (or play with it - fun to pop! outside the tank!)
 
On the emerald crabs note, I had a few in the past and they ignored most algae. Seemed they were more interested in getting into fights either with each other or the sally light foot crabs and eventually each emerald lost its arms and died.
 
I have smaller emeralds in 3 of my tanks and have had no issues with them. They may not eat the larger Valonia until they are larger themselves however - and therein lies the problem. Some of the larger emerald crabs can get a little "aggressive", but they have done the best cleaning up bubble algae when they can "handle it" - keep in mind this is just my observation. I have never had one really do any significant damage to anything, and I have kept them in reef tanks for the last several years. I have often helped them out with rampant Valonia by removing it manually if possible.

The smaller ones just don't seem to "keep up" with algae, but I have had larger ones strip every bit of it - I even transfered small frags and such to my 20L to "clean them up" occasionally because my largest emerald lived there and would immediately have at them. Unfortunately, he recently lost a battle with a damn gorilla crab that I tore the entire tank apart to remove. He held him off as long as he could considering he had been living with just one claw for the past several months!

Sorry Lizz...I am sure this is not the "genius" answer you were hoping for!
 
I compleatly covered one in aptasha x it turned white and deflated. I pulled out the shell out side off bubble and there seems to be no more there. Don't know if its a fix or not but I have dun it a few times and now im down to only one or two bubbles left. I don't know much as im kinda new but it seems to work 4 me but its only been a mounth or two scents I started doing it
 
Emerald crab would be the "easy" herbivore solution to bubble algae (what kind is it?). Low nutrients can rid an aquarium of Valonia or the "bubble stage" of Derbesia (two common types of bubble algae).

On a related note...

I have an Acropora that is overgrowing/overtaking bubble algae in a 'coral war' type situation. I was considering whether or not to take a picture as it's very interesting IMO.
 
I currently have a 3" Scopas that eats red, but only takes green out of the water column. I cleared my tank of green and red bubble algae with a desjardini tang. Then it ate my acans I had collected over a couple years. I've also heard foxface from Randy.
 
This may seem like too simple an answer, but how about manually removing them. I haven't had experience with the cluster type, but have manually removed the single bubble type. I suppose there is a risk of it releasing spores, but I assume the spores would be released anyway at some point in the bubble's life cycle. I would still be careful to remove the entire sack and keep a siphon going in the area to help with catching any spore release. After I manually removed a few some time ago, they have not reappeared, but that might be because my tangs have gotten to them early enough to eradicate them before they develop.
 
IMO, these small cluster-type Valonia can survive in a low nutrient environment. Manual removal is the only (semi-)successful that I have experienced.

On the bright side, most non-reefkeepers who look at your aquarium will like the bubble algae better than any of your corals!
 
Yes! The first time I had one I thought it was cool. I also thought my aptasia looked cool before my tank was overrun with them!
 
I had the same issue with green bubble algae as far as being just about everywhere. I tried emerald crabs and Foxface, etc. but didn't work. Tried manual removal but it was very tedious and just couldn't keep up. I ended up buying a phosphate reactor and cut my MH lights down to 4-5 hours/day (from 8). The bubble algae started disappearing. I have to admit I'm not sure if its one or the other, the combination or just purely coincidence but I haven;t seen any bubble algae in at least a year now.
 
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