How to deal with Bubble Algae

[ZoWhat]

wow, I would have immediately sent a pic into Guinness World Records



.

 

[ZoWhat]

when I had them I'd

* pop em
* filter sock change everyday
* immediately carbon vodka dose
* up'ed my WCs
* up'ed flow in the area where they seemed to originate from

it took but just 2-3 weeks for me to eliminate

 

[aquavista99]

What about red bubble? The crabs seem to have taken care of the green bubble but I have red bubbles everywhere.

Vibrant worked well for me. Had some red bubble algae come in on some Fiji rock years ago and Vibrant did the trick.

 

[JJKK]

I have siphoned like Mr. Saltwater's video:


I also have 4-5 emerald crabs in my Reefer 525XL. The ones that are popping up now and there, I manally remove with a tweezer, then hold it out for the emerald crabs to grab. I am hoping that this train them to appreciate the taste of bubble algae. This is work in progress, so I can't tell you that they didn't eat bubble algae before but now will.

 

[Mike N]

I also have 4-5 emerald crabs in my Reefer 525XL. The ones that are popping up now and there, I manally remove with a tweezer, then hold it out for the emerald crabs to grab. I am hoping that this train them to appreciate the taste of bubble algae. This is work in progress, so I can't tell you that they didn't eat bubble algae before but now will.

Save yourself time and energy and order your emeralds from John at @reefcleaners. He guarantees they will eat bubble algae... and they absolutely do!
I had a plague of bubble algae and bought emeralds from many different sources that never consistently ate it. I bought 8 from John and they have almost completely cleaned the tank of it.

 

[ZoWhat]

Save yourself time and energy and order your emeralds from John at @reefcleaners. He guarantees they will eat bubble algae... and they absolutely do!
I had a plague of bubble algae and bought emeralds from many different sources that never consistently ate it. I bought 8 from John and they have almost completely cleaned the tank of it.

problem is when they run out of things to eat, bubbles, gha, leftover food.... the go ROGUE and attack smaller fish as the fish sleeps at night

 

[mcarroll]

Am I the only one who finds them oddly cool looking?

I wonder why they are considered a pest.

These days algae seems to be looked at like the bogeyman.

Back in the day I guess it was just considered a more pedestrian issue and indeed some folks did think bubble algae looked cool.

Still do. I had one that grew to be more than an inch in diameter and actually had coraline algae growth on it...it looked like a purple and green globe of the world. One of the coolest things I've ever seen in my reef.)

One popular book I have called bubble algae "the jewel of the reef".

Personally, it comes and goes in my tank. It never goes ballistic and I never have to do anything about it. 2¢

 

[Mike N]

problem is when they run out of things to eat, bubbles, gha, leftover food.... the go ROGUE and attack smaller fish as the fish sleeps at night

Guess I'm lucky, i've never really had those problems. I do rehome the large ones when they start growing those massive claws.

 

[Scorpius]

I am not sure I get the question lol when I upgraded my tank I had a CRAZY bubble algae plague. I scraped and scraped and suctioned like crazy. I made no real progress until I got my water quality under control.

I was agreeing with you and being sarcastic about everyone else not saying anything about getting water quality under control.

 

[bblumberg]

My one spot foxface devours bubble algae I didn’t know they even ate that stuff but he eradicated all of it from my tank I also purposely but frags that have some on them just so he can have a snack

Same for me. One spot foxface in my 75g corner tank has obliterated bubble algae. It happily eats mysis and nori now in the absence of bubble algae.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

I was agreeing with you and being sarcastic about everyone else not saying anything about getting water quality under control.

Ok that was what I thought, but ya never know on here lol. Everyone is so quick to add this chemical or that chemical. I have found in my short 4 years of reefing, it is water quality and/or flow with algae...at least with my tank.

 

[Doctorgori]

Just adding to the sample size: ditto to the fox face and 2 emerald crabs....zero algae 210g

 

[Dburr1014]

I have never found bubble algae a problem. If you are gentle enough, just pull them out without popping them. Sometimes you can pull the rock out and do it outside the tank.
I have rid of many in my time and never had a problem.

 

[lbacha]

When I switched to kalk my bubble algae started looking like this

Now I have pretty pink balls

 

[vetteguy53081]

I find emeralds to be Lazy.
My best success has been the use of Vibrant

 

[w2inc]

I started the same thread back in April. There is five pages of good info. I have a 120 that is pretty well covered in bubble algae. I made my Chaeto grow area 2x bigger and put more light on it and it looks like the bubbles in the display are beginning to get pale.

I have at least 15 emeralds left in the system. At one point there were at least 30. Many of mine prefer SPS over bubble algae. I do not think it matters where they come from.

I have two fox face rabbits, they nip at the coral about as much as at the algae. My scopas will go after it on occasion and will always take it from the water column. Red Sea sail fin, no good. I never tried vibrant. I am not comfortable pushing my nutrient levels that low for now.

The only real success I have had getting rid of it was a quart of peroxide in a 5 gallon bucket of salt water with effected rocks for 25 minutes. Then again a month later. The rock was mostly Zoa's, mushrooms, and some encrusting sps, they all made it through. I probably would have tried it with my main display but the rocks are mostly too big to fit in a bucket.

I believe that my bubbles are not Valonia. If I decide to treat the tank I will probably go with fluconazole. Right now I am holding off until I have a second tank that I can put my stuff in if things go wrong.

Here is a link to the thread. It would be nice if we could combine them to make it easier for people to search. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...-kinds-of-things-give-me-all-you-have.582420/

 

[Bleigh]

I just found two ball of bubble algae today. They are very tiny and are on an empty plug on my frag rack. I have no clue where they came from though. I have not added anything to my tank in some time. I happen to think they're really pretty actually.

I've been thinking about an emerald crab for a bit too. Only because I think they look nice. Now that I have something for them to munch on, I may look into getting one.

Where does this stuff come from? Is it like other types of algae that will just start growing, or does it have to come in on another item?

 

[joeyamador]

Particulates can be in the water you bring home with new tank mates and corals that you cant see.. maybe it was hidden and when they're popped or disturbed they can grow.. my lfs has one the size of a dragonball I swear..

 

[joeyamador]

Spread and grow*

 

[JPergamo]

Kind of a weird take on algae control that you never hear about, but you can just take a clam shell, or large snail shell, or epoxy or anything really, and cover the algea spot you want to rid so it dies. Epoxy will remain then get covered in coraline but the other options you can then just remove or move. Obviously this is for small patches not huge breakouts. Works for crevices that algea eaters wont get to as well.