Bubble Algae Advice

[Bandomo]

I've been fighting a major bubble algae outbreak for the last couple of months with zero success. Here's the catch, my live rock consists of only two very expensive reef ceramic pillars. Yesterday I finally decided to remove the pillars and spent roughly two hours plucking away and removing as much bubble algae as humanly possible.

Little bit of history...
When first setting up my new tank using the reef ceramics, I was EXTREMELY careful not to introduce any bubble algae into the system. Any coral that did contain bubble algae was carefully removed, which was then followed by a good scrub and finally rinsed three times in separate containers. I began the project using dead rock, dead sand, and new saltwater. Obviously, even with this amount of care, the bubble algae still flourished.

So the question is: What should I do? Should I cook the rocks and start all over, or should I just place the pillars back in the system? I'm sure that if i just placed the pillars back in the system, the bubble algae will return and reproduce much quicker then when I first set up the system. I also do understand that completely avoid bubble algae is 100% impossible.

Do you think if I placed the pillars in a dark bucket with saltwater, an air pump, and place a lid on top and have it covered for several weeks will do the trick? Any thoughts?

 

[bigsittingrock]

green emerald crabs

 

[Surf&turf]

I added a Rabbitfish. Took care of it and so far a prefect gentleman.

 

[Luisra]

You should cook them or even better put them in bleach; if not the bubble algae will grow back. I used emerald crabs for it, and it worked out pretty good. 7/10 emerald crabs ate bubble algae, the other 3 decided not to do it and sadly they died.

 

[swannyson7]

Have you tried natural predators? I know some people have had luck with mythrix crabs and emerald crabs eating bubble algae, but its seems to be hit or miss.

 

[Hyprviperx]

my experience with emerald crabs (for bubble algae) was that i introduced him and he landed on a rock that had some GSP on them and he immediately started ripping the heads off it, and he wasnt even eating it, just ripping them off and tossing them into the current.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

i would take the smallest diameter vinyl hose you can use while still being able to suck up the largest bubbles and slowly go through and gently dislodge them and manually remove them without breaking the bubbles. This is easy to do and although time consuming, better option IMO than disrupting the whole system. I'd also add two or three emeralds to take care of any stragglers.

 

[red02]

A naso tang that is med size will also eat the hell out of it

 

[Bandomo]

Thanks for all the replays! I've tried several Emerald Crabs with no success. Having zero success in the past has now lead me to operation "Emerald Pico." I'm in the process of setting up a 3 gallon pico tank with small pieces of reef ceramic rock that is heavily infested with bubble algae. I will be adding three Emerald crabs to see how effective they actually are. I will also periodically pop several of the bubbles to release the spores and continue the cycle.

I also forgot to mention, my tank is a 50 breeder. Naso's, Red Sea Sailfin, and Rabbitfish are out of the question.

 

[RaysReef]

problem is using emerald crabs or other predators that eat bubble algaes, they still "pop the jiuce" back into your tank and keeps growing elsewhere.

 

[dmorazan]

rabbit fish will do it. my 300g none rabbit fish in it frag tank some no rabbit fish.

 

[Luisra]

Thanks for all the replays! I've tried several Emerald Crabs with no success. Having zero success in the past has now lead me to operation "Emerald Pico." I'm in the process of setting up a 3 gallon pico tank with small pieces of reef ceramic rock that is heavily infested with bubble algae. I will be adding three Emerald crabs to see how effective they actually are. I will also periodically pop several of the bubbles to release the spores and continue the cycle.

I also forgot to mention, my tank is a 50 breeder. Naso's, Red Sea Sailfin, and Rabbitfish are out of the question.

You need to get the large emerald crabs, they will eat every bubble algae in your tank.
Volvo 360 excavator

 

[Bandomo]

Update...

So I decided to cook the reef ceramic pillars and start from scratch. I'll soon setup a small frag/quarantine tank to help prevent this from happening in the future. The question is, I now have 7 fishes (tiny blue tank, snowflake pair, helfrichi firefish, tiny red headed goby, anthias, and a rainford's goby) with zero live rock, a 2" sand bed, and a SWC 160 cone skimmer. Should I be worried about nitrates/ammonia? Is there enough biological filtration in the water and sand bed to keep the tank stable?

 

[CJO]

Unless you want to do a LOT of water changes, you need to get some cured live rock in there ASAP!

CJ