Tank reboot

mniemann · Sep 21, 2018

Hello all.... I’m engaged in a losing battle with bubble algae. unfortunately I’ve lost a lot of nice corals like my jelly bean chalice due to some of the things I’ve tried. I am using Vibrant now but it may be a little to late. At this point I can take out the few remaining pieces of coral and fish to my quarantine tank and will likely reboot the tank with all new Marco rock and a bare bottom. Since the BA has spread so bad it has to be in the pumps and hoses. What are some good options to kill it once the tank is empty to make sure it doesn’t resurface in the new set up? Would just fresh water do it if ran for a few weeks? It’s a 100g total water system. What about fresh water and bleach or vinegar to make sure the sump, pump, powerheads and lines are all clear without damaging the display tank or the silicone, seams and seals. The display is a reef savvy.

I know I’ll have to re-cycle the system but the few remaining piece and fish will be ok in the quarantine tank for a month or two.

Thanks in advance for any help.

cancun · Sep 21, 2018

mniemann said:
Hello all.... I’m engaged in a losing battle with bubble algae. unfortunately I’ve lost a lot of nice corals like my jelly bean chalice due to some of the things I’ve tried. I am using Vibrant now but it may be a little to late. At this point I can take out the few remaining pieces of coral and fish to my quarantine tank and will likely reboot the tank with all new Marco rock and a bare bottom. Since the BA has spread so bad it has to be in the pumps and hoses. What are some good options to kill it once the tank is empty to make sure it doesn’t resurface in the new set up? Would just fresh water do it if ran for a few weeks? It’s a 100g total water system. What about fresh water and bleach or vinegar to make sure the sump, pump, powerheads and lines are all clear without damaging the display tank or the silicone, seams and seals. The display is a reef savvy.

I know I’ll have to re-cycle the system but the few remaining piece and fish will be ok in the quarantine tank for a month or two.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi there! Several months ago I had a bubble algae problem, hitchiked on piece of coral I bought. It wasn't really bad at that point. I used vibrant, I doubled the dose twice a week. It took about 3 weeks and it was gone. First the bubble algae turned white, and just slowly released and was gone. The downside was I got a Cyanobacteria bloom a few days later. I cleared that up with Chemiclean. Bubble Algae or Cyano have not been back.

Do you have any pics? It has to be bad to reboot your tank. Vibrant didn't harm any coral or fish. Maybe try vibrant first before rebooting your tank? Also I am sure you know this, but never try to manually remove bubble algae in your tank. Here are pics of my tank now....same coral that was in it several months ago while using vibrant....