Bubble algae battle - advice appreciatd

Louisethenewbie · Jun 28, 2022

I am currently experiencing a bubble algae explosion in my Red Sea Max Nano 75l that is 5 months old. I have been using Vibrant for 4 weeks & have had an emerald crab since clean up crew added in March. The bubble algae still seems to be spreading everywhere & zoa’s are being smothered. All coral was dipped in Red Sea DipX. Nitrate is testing 5.0 & Phosphate 0 according to NT Labs test kit. I am considering trying manual removal with a suction tube but worried I am going to make things worse. Advice appreciated.

spsick · Jun 28, 2022

That’s not bubble algae it’s Cyanobacteria or Dinoflagelletes tough to tell from pic.

flyingscampi · Jun 28, 2022

Phosphate = 0 = muck everywhere (with air bubbles in it.) I made this mistake...

Your tank looks like it has air bubbles in muck. Bubble algae is tough little green balls filled with water.

I also believe that Vibrant would kill anything likely to compete with the 'muck'.

Louisethenewbie · Jun 28, 2022

spsick said:
That’s not bubble algae it’s Cyanobacteria or Dinoflagelletes tough to tell from pic.

How can I tell?

Louisethenewbie · Jun 28, 2022

flyingscampi said:
Phosphate = 0 = muck everywhere (with air bubbles in it.) I made this mistake...

Your tank looks like it has air bubbles in muck. Bubble algae is tough little green balls filled with water.

I also believe that Vibrant would kill anything likely to compete with the 'muck'.

What do you mean my muck everywhere? Sorry I’m such a novice. So should I stop Vibrant? & what do I need to do to improve the situation? Sorry for what might appear like silly questions…I really believed it was bubble algae. Now I’m even more confused.

Louisethenewbie · Jun 28, 2022

Louisethenewbie said:
What do you mean my muck everywhere? Sorry I’m such a novice. So should I stop Vibrant? & what do I need to do to improve the situation? Sorry for what might appear like silly questions…I really believed it was bubble algae. Now I’m even more confused.

I’m presuming I’ve compounded the problem using Vibrant.

acananoreefer · Jun 28, 2022

If it's cyano you can get rid of it with chemiclean. Personally I would just suck up what you can with an airline tube and make sure you don't let your zoas get smothered then see what happens over a month or so.

acananoreefer · Jun 28, 2022

Louisethenewbie said:
I’m presuming I’ve compounded the problem using Vibrant.

Probably, I've have no firsthand experience with it myself. I would steer clear based on https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/warning-use-vibrant-at-your-own-risk.894995/

Wasabiroot · Jun 28, 2022

Bubble algae won't have a film surrounding it. The bubbles are more like caviar and very shiny.

Louisethenewbie · Jun 28, 2022

Wasabiroot said:
Bubble algae won't have a film surrounding it. The bubbles are more like caviar and very shiny.

So should I be syphoning it off? & do you know why it’s spreading like wildfire?

Orito · Jun 28, 2022

thats a bacteria, not much of algae, it problably disapear when the lights go out and reapear next day right?
I woul syphon it daily, until it goes away.

flyingscampi · Jun 29, 2022

Louisethenewbie said:
What do you mean my muck everywhere? Sorry I’m such a novice. So should I stop Vibrant? & what do I need to do to improve the situation? Sorry for what might appear like silly questions…I really believed it was bubble algae. Now I’m even more confused.

By 'muck' I mean a slimy mat full of air bubbles that other posters have (correctly) referred to as cyano/dino. This mat can be easily blown off surfaces with a baster and netted, or siphoned out during water changes.

Cyanobacteria will appear when nutrient levels are imbalanced or zeroed out. I only started out recently but suffered exactly what you are experiencing because I had no nutrients.

You can add bottled nutrients, e.g., Brightwell NeoPhos & NeoNitro, or preferably overfeed the tank until nutrients are raised and kept at PO4 = 0.1 ppm and NO3 = 10 - 20 ppm.

Then algae will grow and outcompete cyano which should gradually disappear over the next few months (well that's what happened with me anyway...)

Louisethenewbie · Jun 29, 2022

flyingscampi said:
By 'muck' I mean a slimy mat full of air bubbles that other posters have (correctly) referred to as cyano/dino. This mat can be easily blown off surfaces with a baster and netted, or siphoned out during water changes.

Cyanobacteria will appear when nutrient levels are imbalanced or zeroed out. I only started out recently but suffered exactly what you are experiencing because I had no nutrients.

You can add bottled nutrients, e.g., Brightwell NeoPhos & NeoNitro, or preferably overfeed the tank until nutrients are raised and kept at PO4 = 0.1 ppm and NO3 = 10 - 20 ppm.

Then algae will grow and outcompete cyano which should gradually disappear over the next few months (well that's what happened with me anyway...)

Thanks. I cleared loads of it out last night & looks a lot better this morning. I intend to try getting more off the rocks with a toothbrush in the next few days. Will probably opt for overfeeding rather than bottled as I am now extremely wary of bottled products. My own fault as I had misidentified but have also now seen some rather dubious posts about Vibrant.

flyingscampi · Jun 29, 2022

Louisethenewbie said:
Thanks. I cleared loads of it out last night & looks a lot better this morning. I intend to try getting more off the rocks with a toothbrush in the next few days. Will probably opt for overfeeding rather than bottled as I am now extremely wary of bottled products. My own fault as I had misidentified but have also now seen some rather dubious posts about Vibrant.

I've never used any of the magic elixirs and after a year the tank settled down nicely, all I have to do is wipe a brown film off the glass once a week and change 10% water. I have a large hermit and a hundred tiny limpets which keep the rocks clean.

Did you add any live rock? I bought 1 kg of this and it introduced corallines and other forms of algae: