Bubble Algae Eradication with Unexpected Nutrient Results

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Following. I’m on my 9th week of vibrant without any success.

Vibrant? You understand that is a chemical algaecide, right? Don't be fooled by the misleading claim it is bacteria.

I do not recommend anyone use a mislabeled product.

If you really want to use a chemical algaecide, I'd use a properly labeled version of the same thing: algaefix.

 

[GarrettT]

Holy " YOU KNOW WHAT "! That is a lot of bubble! Is that on a rock or sand? I had non on the sand and all of my 250lbs of rock maybe had that total amount. How large is your tank? I have zero experience with Vibrant but I have heard it can crash your nutrient's down to zero. Is that true?

It hasn’t dropped my nutrients down. My acros are not affected by it either. My tank is about 220 gal.

I have to remove my tunze powerheads EVERYDAY to clean, as they get clogged with bubble algae. That’s the only thing that really bothers me. I have one mp60 that makes it a non issue. May just have to swap to Ecotech entirely if I can’t get control of it.

I noticed my Pitho crabs go after the bubble algae, but very rarely are they able to capture and eat it. They generally just dislodge it and it ends up on my powerheads.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Brightwell Razor, CAS: 42751-79-1. Wastewater flocc.

I can't see a big reason to use that polymer material to treat bubble algae.

 

[GarrettT]

Vibrant? You understand that is a chemical algaecide, right? Don't be fooled by the misleading claim it is bacteria.

I do not recommend anyone use a mislabeled product.

If you really want to use a chemical algaecide, I'd use a properly labeled version of the same thing: algaefix.

I’m aware, just out of options at this point. Agreed on using the alternative. Not really a company that I want to advance.

 

[FlowGod]

It hasn’t dropped my nutrients down. My acros are not affected by it either. My tank is about 220 gal.

I have to remove my tunze powerheads EVERYDAY to clean, as they get clogged with bubble algae. That’s the only thing that really bothers me. I have one mp60 that makes it a non issue. May just have to swap to Ecotech entirely if I can’t get control of it.

I noticed my Pitho crabs go after the bubble algae, but very rarely are they able to capture and eat it. They generally just dislodge it and it ends up on my powerheads.

This is my experience as well. The daily powerhead clean gets old real fast
*Its just my Tunze's that get clogged too

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy, I DID NOT USE the Redux Plus ( Redoxlclean ) based on a previous thread where I saw you believed it was Potassium Permanganate and you recommended not using it because of it's very high oxidizer properties. I felt this was something I did not need to use. From the video I saw from Parker's Reef it looked like a very dark purple liquid and used very little so I believe you were correct in your assumption of it being Potassium Permanganate. The only 2 products I used were Razor which has a very light blue color in case your curious and MB Clean.

Below was in my original post:
To start I did not follow Parker's Reef process exactly. After some more research and a recommendation I read from Randy Holmes-Farley I did not use the Redoxlclean because he believes it may be a Potassium Permanganate product which is a very strong oxidizer and you need to be very careful when using the stuff. I felt using this product was not necessary for me because I am already using a Sochting Oxydator in my tank.

OK, sorry, I just saw the list of products that you said someone else used and assumed you did too.

 

[Steve2020]

Brightwell Razor, CAS: 42751-79-1. Wastewater flocc.

What does that have to do with Razor? You take info on a product from Alibaba lol and think it is Brightwell Razor? Deffinantly not identical products. Not even the same color.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What does that have to do with Razor? You take info on a product from Alibaba lol and think it is Brightwell Razor? Deffinantly not identical products. Not even the same color.

Do you know what polymer it is?

FWIW, color is not generally an indication of identity of a polymer, but more typically of the presence or absence of light absorbing impurities.

 

[Steve2020]

Do you know what polymer it is?

FWIW, color is not generally an indication of identity of a polymer, but more typically of the presence or absence of light absorbing impurities.

Do you know what polymer it is?

FWIW, color is not generally an indication of identity of a polymer, but more typically of the presence or absence of light absorbing impurities.

No I do not know. It could be natural or manmade but all I know is that it worked well with the MB Clean for me with no adverse affects on any of my inhabitants. I just found it funny that Razor was mentioned with a product on Alibaba as being the same product. I would love to see the chemical analysis he has, if he even has one, comparing the two like it was done with Vibrant and Algaefix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No I do not know. It could be natural or manmade but all I know is that it worked well with the MB Clean for me with no adverse affects on any of my inhabitants. I just found it funny that Razor was mentioned with a product on Alibaba as being the same product. I would love to see the chemical analysis he has, if he even has one, comparing the two like it was done with Vibrant and Algaefix.

Brightwell does claim it is a flocculant, which I don't think is likely to help much with bubble algae.

That said, it may be an algaecide as well as a flocculant (as the posted CAS number might be) and Brightwell may not mention that aspect, or may not know it.

We discussed that potential in a different thread, but there's no public answer.

 

[mr.lordacan]

I can't see a big reason to use that polymer material to treat bubble algae.

Just wanted to chime in here because I stumbled across this thread in the search for bubble algae control. I searched that cas number and found the following -

Cas No. 42751-79-1: Poly(dimethylamine-co-epichlorohydrin)

According to chemical book.com, a non-foaming algaecide used in swimming pools, whirlpools, industrial recirculating cooling waters and for pulp and paper mill waters.

Not sure where this cas number was pulled from, but if it’s in razor I’m surprised they state it’s not an algaecide.

I may be misunderstanding the above cas number comments.. but a side note microbacter7, clean, and frag recover all say not for human consumption. Razor is the only product I have of there’s that states to contact poison control if ingested. So there has to be something more to the product. I find this product a little sketchy that they tell you to contact poison control and the ingredients only include “purified water and proprietary blend/base”. lol…

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Definitely a antimicrobial polymer. The question is why think it is in razor?