Potential cause of red bubble algae

[alphaferret]

Anyone have an idea what causes this algae-over lighting/feeding/nutirents?
Is there a fish or snail or cuc that takes care of it?

Thanks

Dean

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Jmo

Jmo

first... I would try to properly identify the algae.

or..... you could take the shotgun approach: if your aquarium is large enough add a big hungry Foxface or Sailfin Tang.

*phosphates and/or nitrates are (usually) the fuels that feed nuisance algae
*don't blame the lighting (although I'm sure someone will)

 

[alphaferret]

I had heard that it was not a light fueled algae. Def. not big enough for either of those i beleive-46 bow. I have a Flame finned tang but he does not touch it.Neither did my hermits and emeralds- I was told either albacore or abalone? I forget which.

As far as proper Id I just figured red bubble algae was that-any other poss. suspects?

 

[alphaferret]

I had got a new much larger skimmer and doing water changes more frequently than in the past before this came about-reef octo 150 nw-my set up is 100 gal or less. I have had cyano in past.

 

[superkat]

i've seen the green...but not the red. Is it the same kind? both my sailfin and rabbit are "nom nom nom" on that stuff.

 

[alphaferret]

LOL-nom nom nom

 

[5380]

My experience with RBA is that scopas tangs seem to enjoy the treat. I'm 2 of 2 with them. My RBA would grow in clusters, on my rocks just like GBA, when the algae got big the surface changed color to silverish, and it grew reddish dimples.

I have a very small tank and resisted the urge to buy a tang for nearly a year at one point I put all my rock into buckets and blacked them out for a month with no luck. The first scopas cleared almost all of it but I moved and decided to trade him to a local hobbiest. The algae returned and I got a scopas tang from ARC which cleared the second outbreak. I have one remaining patch which is curiously growing on the side glass. It's actually growing in a film like cyano and then the bubbles rise randomly in clusters. Because of this I don't think manual removal will help.