I've declare war on bubble algae! Now what to do?

[Katarnie]

Hi all!
It started as just a couple of dark green/grey bubbles.. now more are appearing in different parts on this one big rock. Since noticing this I have greatly reduced the amount of time my lights are on the tank my nitrate is only just off yellow and phosphate is 0.10 been using Red Sea NoPox for a week probably too soon to have noticed a difference? Salinity 1024-5 temp 25 degrees all other water parameters in check and stable. I'm trying to promote coralline growth as I like it and I think I read somewhere that coralline & nuisance algae compete with each other. I want coralline to win if this is true so will be buying Purple Up tomorrow to help the coralline grow. I'm wondering if its worth just tossing this one big rock in the bin or should I take it out of tank and manually cut out the BA scrape it off completely and put it back in. If the latter will it just grow back on this rock? I'm not very good at making dyi suction type devices.

Any advice welcome

 

[funkyfish77]

Have u thought about a emerald crab . Mine does a great job of
Cleaning up the bubble alge.

Funky

 

[toothybugs]

An emerald is a good idea and is my suggestion as well, but know that it may turn in to a fish-hunter once your algae levels are low. If you are running a nano, you will probably run out of algae rather quickly and find you need to either return the crab to the LFS or feed it algae leaves (dried kelp, etc) to keep it satisfied.

 

[Katarnie]

It's a nano :/ will an emerald crab harm my corals? do they eat all kinds of algae?

 

[toothybugs]

Mine eats anything fuzzy it can pick off the rocks. I've never had an issue with them harassing my fish but others have. Never heard of an issue with corals.

How tiny is your nano?

 

[Katarnie]

16 gall very cute lil nano is emerald crab biggish?

 

[Spyderturbo007]

How much bubble algae are you have in your tank? I get a few bubbles here and there, but nothing major. It's been that way for about 2 years. I normally just suck them out during water changes or pop them and remove the shell if I can't easily dislodge them from the rock.

I think if you keep your nutrient levels in check, the bubble algae will stay in check as well.

 

[johnike]

I'd take the rock out and pluck 'em.
And don't bother with the Purple Up.

 

[Katarnie]

3 weeks ago there were 3 bubbles together, then 4 little ones couple of days later. I was just going to ignore them while I dealt with nutrients but tonight I see more (all on this one rock) so I'm getting worried they will form an army...and I'm a little scared about how to actually get them off the rock have read many stories of them popping and spreading spores all through the tank then its a major outbreak. My trochus snails go right over them and they don't pop so I'm guessing they are very stuck on there. Why not Purple up?

 

[shesacharmer]

You don't need chemicals to grow coralline. All you need is time. I bought a used tank that had been moved in the snow and all the coralline died and turned white. I scraped off some, left the rest and set up my tank with the previous owners live rock and sand. Now four months later I'm having green, pink, purple, and red coralline growing all over. I have to scrape it off the front and sides but I'm letting it cover the back and overflow. I added some dry rock as well about two months ago and it already shows all four colors of coralline. Skip the chemicals and you'll be fine.

 

[Katarnie]

Well said I'll save that money then and come up with a better plan of attack for this BA

 

[KAMIKAZE0214]

I started by pulling rocks with bubble algae out and knocking the bubbles off and then rinsing the rock. After it started to get to be to much, I got an emerald crab. I would have saved myself hours if I had started with him. Dude does work.

Have you tried just knocking the algae off (don't do this in tank, the spores will spread if it pops)?

 

[Hollifields]

Emerald crabs are awesome and usually do not harm anything. Their very interesting to watch IMHO. Since you have a nano, try to get a female crab as the males can get quite large over time.
I would recommend you remove the rock with the BA, scrape it off and set it outside in the sun for a few months. Turn it over once in a while to kill everything on the rock. Later you can soak in RO and reuse if desired.

 

[Katarnie]

I Haven't touched it at all, I'm worried I will do it wrong and it will spread everywhere. Im still very new to reef keeping. I'm Starting to think about just putting an emerald crab in though am still hesitant bout this because I know they can harass fish and corals

 

[Katarnie]

After Killing everything off that rock out in the sun then putting back in tank, will that cause a mini-cycle? I like the idea of getting a female crab I don't want a very big one in my tank

 

[Hollifields]

If you soak, scrub and rinse the rock it will be fine. I would never through away any of my rock, do a little reading on sun dried live rock in reef tanks etc.
If you don't want to kill everything on the rock (sun) remove it and scrub, rinse out of the tank.
Emeralds are awesome!

 

[Katarnie]

Ok I'm convinced, will be getting an emerald crab! I'm rather interested in them now, and will be researching sun dried rock. Thank you everyone for your excellent advice!

 

[MondoBongo]

so i have been battling bubble algae as well for a while.

i've tried about a dozen emerald crabs over the last year. no effect.

i've tried reducing lights and nutrients, not much effect there either. in fact, i've found this stuff growing under shaded ledges and under frag plugs, so it does not need much light to survive.

my best method, has been careful, and almost pathological, removal with a siphon during water changes. i scope out the tank, do my best to find the patches, and then remove it with a combination of rigid airline tubing, tweezers, and anything else i can use to scrap/pull/pluck it from its hidey holes.

i always make sure to maintain suction around it at all times, so i am siphoning any spores or pieces of it from the tank as i go.

this has been working out reasonably well, and while it is tedious, i have slowly been gaining ground on it.

 

[Bryopsis]

Emerald crab or hydrogen peroxide dip

 

[Sk8r]

Bubble is a phase like many others. Use ro/di, get a good test kid for alk, run GFO if you have persistent algae, and otherwise just wait. You'll go through many 'blooms' of this and that as your tank matures. If you take heroic measures at each of them you'll zig this way and that in chemistry and possibly create a worse problem.