Popping Bubble Algae: Let's settle this once and for all!

[Mikemccafe]

I started my new tank with dry pukani rock to avoid problems like this, my service company added a frag that I noticed later with a couple of small bubbles on the frag I didn't think it would be a problem, Ya right. Well within a couple of months the whole tank was covered, my service company wanted to pull all the rock out and scrub them, but using my better judgement I resisted. I felt it would set my tank back and since the corals where doing well I didn't want a set back. I put some emerald crabs and a rabbit fish in the tank and in a couple on months no more bubbles. Just goes to show that your aquarium maintenance company professionals aren't Jacques Cousteau as much as they think they are. He's gone now lol

 

[mcarroll]

He's gone now lol

I guess you want to do your own water changes AND your own research for some reason???

(nobody is a complete expert on this in spite of what they may tell you...not even the folks writing the books (though books are still probably one of the hobbyists best resources)....so unless he was trying to bully you into letting him scrub the rocks or had other problems too, I think I would have cut some slack myself )

 

[Mikemccafe]

I guess you want to do your own water changes AND your own research for some reason???

(nobody is a complete expert on this in spite of what they may tell you...not even the folks writing the books (though books are still probably one of the hobbyists best resources)....so unless he was trying to bully you into letting him scrub the rocks or had other problems too, I think I would have cut some slack myself )

I gave him plenty of slack but after spending thousands and having a mediocre tank I had to switch to another service my tank looks awesome and I'm much happier

 

[Arron209]

My tank was covered with bubble algae a few months ago. Every rock that is in my tank and even the power heads were covered. I scraped and siphoned out as many bubbles as I could without getting tired every week for a couple months and they were eventually all gone. I popped hundreds if not thousands of bubbles during this process but yet I have zero In my tank.

 

[Bob Escher]

Never had them in over four years

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Trust me ... Vibrant Aquarium Cleaner does really work. It eliminated all and every single bubble algae in my system and haven't seen any "comeback"

 

[Slicktop]

They are a large pain in the rear! In the last several months I have been through a battle on bubble algae. First I started with Vibrant, it did work to a point but it also almost killed all my cheato which is main nutrient export and my nitrates shot up. The cheato has bounced back and nitrates back down.. Bubble algae showing back up..

I have removed by hand and knife trying my best not to bust the bubbles.. I have also removed whole rocks and scraped them off and rinsed in tank water before returning to main display. I have no phosphate to speak of and changed all old pumps just in case I had one rusting which I have been told can make them spread.

They are not out of control and I am the only one that notices them but would love to rid them forever..

 

[James Emory Verified Sponsor]

Hmmmm ...never thought of it that way on how the crabs, rabbit fish eat the bubble algae.. makes sense...I was always told not to pop them though...

I've had more Emerald Crabs than one can imagine; they ate everything but the bubble algae. Maybe I just have bad luck with their appetite.

 

[reefer1]

I had an outbreak of bubble algae a while back. It took a few months but I successfully beat them by
1) using a dental pick to free them from my rocks and then siphoning them out every 3-5 days
2) adding a few emerald crabs (until I found some that ate the stuff)
3) then adjusting my A/B light balance (it seems more white and less blue helped)
Problem solved. No bubble algae for the last couple of months

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

My argument for popping them is that it's bubble algae, having it in the tank at all is a problem, if you don't pop it, it's definitely going to spread, if you do, you may deal with the problem

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

I've always liked Bubble Algae when it decided to grow, and it's never taken over on me.

I'm glad you said this, I feel sort of the same way (though I've also never had a crazy outbreak).

One of my tanks had valonia growing on a powerhead, but it never really wound up anywhere else, so I sort of just let it take over the entire powerhead. I remember the horrified reactions from other reef keepers when they saw that...

 

[XNavyDiver]

Let coralline algae grow over them, completely encasing them. The bubble inside dies, leaving a coralline bubble to sell. Cha ching!

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

Let coralline algae grow over them, completely encasing them. The bubble inside dies, leaving a coralline bubble to sell. Cha ching!

Call them "bounce" and sell frags for $$$$$...

 

[mcarroll]

@Dana Riddle, wasn't there a famous bubble algae outbeak in one of the bays in Hawaii that they cleared up?

 

[Oldsalt01]

I battled it for about 5 months after one bubble came in on a frag. Always careful to not pop it when removing but it continued to spread everywhere. Ultimately, I removed all the rock and swapped it for cycled rock in August. After sterilizing the tank completely I set it back up and have not had a recurrence. Now I'm extremely careful to check every new addition with a magnifier before before adding to the tank. Not something I want to deal with again!

 

[Dana Riddle]

Yup, Kaneohe Bay, Island of Oahu, Hawaii. It cleared up when the sewage discharges were diverted, or treatment was upgraded to tertiary (I don't recall which.) That was about 200 miles away from me as the Nene flies, on another island. Didn't see much macroalgae on the Big Island although it was there - just kept trimmed back by all the Tangs that the rabid environmentalists say don't exist.

@Dana Riddle, wasn't there a famous bubble algae outbeak in one of the bays in Hawaii that they cleared up?

 

[Oldsalt01]

My LFS swapped me cycled rock even for the BA infested rock.......... so he could feed it to his tangs! They were quite happy!!!!

 

[Potatohead]

I always wondered what happened to the blob that played the blob in the movie "The Blob"

That's just freaky

Call me crazy but that really looks photoshopped. The hand is too blurry for only being a couple inches behind the focal point.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Call me crazy but that really looks photoshopped. The hand is too blurry for only being a couple inches behind the focal point.

After you said that it did appear photoshopped. Though, the overall reflection with the fingers looks pretty real.

 

[Reefahholic]

Bubble Algae…my favorite! I’ve had a fun time with many different pests, but bubble algae (under the right conditions) can be devastating. My current philosophy is to get them while they’re tiny before they mature.

One debate that has always taken place on the forums is…

Will popping the bubbles spread spores around the tank?! IMO, it can. I believe it depends on species though. I don’t know this for sure (can’t prove it), but I had a tank several years ago that I went in there and scraped all the bubbles off the rocks with a butter knife. Let me just tell you it got about 50,000x worse in the following weeks. Coincidence? Maybe…maybe not. It was like a bad dream. A complete explosion of bubble algae literally took control of the tank. It was so bad that I shut down the system and trashed all the rock.

Below you will observe that very rock in a brute garbage can. Also observe the tiny tiny spors on the overflow pipes. Also note how that species fused out of one piece to form several others. That is the one you do not want in your tank!

How did they get back here (rear overflow box) if they weren’t released into the water column?!