What eats bubble algae.

Joshua Agostoni · Feb 2, 2018

So I have a refugium and it's doing wonders havnt had my nitrates above 5 for over a month and havnt done a water change but i will be doing one on Sunday just I feel like even if nitrates are great I still should.

So in my refugium I noticed some aptasia so i bought a couple of peppermint shrimp the problem should solve itself... however today o noticed bubble algae. These problems are on in my refugium which is great but i wanna get rid of the bubble algae. So my question is what eat it...

I know emerald crabs do but i love those and right now I only have two I'm ok with buying more but would rather put them in my main display instead of the refugium. Plus the bubble algae is on the sides where I don't think the crabs will be able to climb to.

What else can I get to combat this?

Lucas Lembke · Feb 2, 2018

Joshua Agostoni said:
So I have a refugium and it's doing wonders havnt had my nitrates above 5 for over a month and havnt done a water change but i will be doing one on Sunday just I feel like even if nitrates are great I still should.

So in my refugium I noticed some aptasia so i bought a couple of peppermint shrimp the problem should solve itself... however today o noticed bubble algae. These problems are on in my refugium which is great but i wanna get rid of the bubble algae. So my question is what eat it...

I know emerald crabs do but i love those and right now I only have two I'm ok with buying more but would rather put them in my main display instead of the refugium. Plus the bubble algae is on the sides where I don't think the crabs will be able to climb to.

What else can I get to combat this?

I was watching a BRS video on youtube on how to defeat nuisance algae and pests and you could take a tweezers and manually remove it.

Robink · Feb 2, 2018

Just scrape it off, carefully...

rkpetersen · Feb 2, 2018

I remove it manually from my DT, when I find it. If I ever found it in my fuge, I'd do the same. Use a forceps, try not to break the cell wall as this can allegedly spread spores, but if you do, it's not a catastrophe. What's more important to get all the fragments out if you do break them up; don't let them go floating off and settle somewhere else.

Joshua Agostoni · Feb 2, 2018

Yeah but I'd also like to get some inverts that eat it as well if I can

Oberst Oswald · Feb 4, 2018

I found that nothing will eat bubble algae. I must of had 6 or 7 emerald crabs and they would rather die then eat this stuff. The 'frug is a bad place to put Emerald crabs because they will eat everything in the 'frug before they would even touch the bubbles algae. The closest "eater" of bubble algae is the human being with a set of tweezers.

wattson · Feb 6, 2018

naso tang ,,,rabbit fish ,,fox face lo eat bubble algae,,just make sure they are reef safe

EastSideBAy · Feb 6, 2018

Always had good luck with Emerald crabs and Foxface for keeping bubble algae control. Another way of dealing it is using the Vibrant in dealing with array of algae. Fun fact bubble algae is one of the largest single cell organism out there in the world.

Joshua Agostoni · Feb 7, 2018

Can use fish... it's in my refugium. Not big enough to put a fish in... and I love the emerald crabs to much to put them in there.. I'll just have to remove it myself I was just Hoping to get maybe some snails that would eat it.

wattson · Feb 7, 2018

I wish there was a snail that ate bubble algae,,would that be great

UM Aquarium Club · Feb 7, 2018

As others are saying emerald crabs will usually eat it but you don't need many. Before being killed by a hitchhiker crab we had about 2 emeralds in our 150g that always kept bubble algae down without trouble.

Cory · Feb 18, 2018

My foxface loves bubble algae. He ate ir all. New ones show up and he eats those too.

GeoSquid · Mar 24, 2020

I know this is an old thread...... but I found out my Picaso trigger, who is in my reef tank, eats bubble algae. I got a frag from a local reefer recently that had some bubble algae on it and he loves the stuff.

Webslinger · Mar 24, 2020

Emerald crab.

Silverfish · Mar 24, 2020

Vibrant!

GoVols · Mar 24, 2020

Silverfish said:
Vibrant!

Yep

But not sure what it do to a fuge.

Gabz36 · Jun 18, 2021

Joshua Agostoni said:
So I have a refugium and it's doing wonders havnt had my nitrates above 5 for over a month and havnt done a water change but i will be doing one on Sunday just I feel like even if nitrates are great I still should.

So in my refugium I noticed some aptasia so i bought a couple of peppermint shrimp the problem should solve itself... however today o noticed bubble algae. These problems are on in my refugium which is great but i wanna get rid of the bubble algae. So my question is what eat it...

I know emerald crabs do but i love those and right now I only have two I'm ok with buying more but would rather put them in my main display instead of the refugium. Plus the bubble algae is on the sides where I don't think the crabs will be able to climb to.

What else can I get to combat this?

I've hear emerald crabs and turbo snails eat it pretty effectively, but I have yet to introduce these critters to my tank and see for myself. Be warned though, hungry emerald crabs are known to attack corals.
If you have room for more fish, blennies are suppose to be really good, but can be aggressive toward tank mates.
Good luck!

RyanHoan · Jun 18, 2021

As you'll learn, nothing is a 100% sure cure for bubble algae.

Things I've tried:

-foxface: nibbled on bubble when he wasn't busy eating my LPS
-emeralds: Nibbled, but preferred my SPS
-urchins: they actually do a decent job (short spine and pencil), but in no way will they eradicate all the algae

-I'm having the best luck with manual removal, UV, and that which we don't speak of ...

... ....(shhhhh - vibrant).

Bigfish502 · Oct 13, 2023

Do lettuce nudibranch eat bubble algae? I've tried emerald crabs and the only thing they seem good at is irritating my SPS corals.

Bigfish502 · Oct 13, 2023

EastSideBAy said:
Always had good luck with Emerald crabs and Foxface for keeping bubble algae control. Another way of dealing it is using the Vibrant in dealing with array of algae. Fun fact bubble algae is one of the largest single cell organism out there in the world.

I'm very hesitant to use Vibrant after the scandal came out about what was actually in their product (doesn't help that the company has remained silent and refused to comment on the matter). My tank just barely reached the 1 year mark and I'd hate to crash it now with a product that so many people have said killed their coral.