bubble aglae

[Carolee]

My 75 gal reef tank is being taken over by green bubble algae. What am I doing wrong? Are they harmful? Do I need to get rid of them and if so, how.

[amatuereefer]

The best bet for removing them is to pick off the ones you can without breaking them and to buy an emerald crab to eat the rest. I don't know what they do thats harmful other than overrun you're tank and look ugly, but theyre definitely something you should try and take care of before they get out of hand.

[kgross]

Carolee,

The buble algae (valonia sp) is not extremly bad for your reef, but they are unsightly. If you are having a big problem it is most likely caused by excess nutriants in the water. You can try to remove the excess nutriants or try to control the valonia. To control the valonia a emerald crab works pretty well, but valonia is not its favorite food.

To remove the excess nutriants from the water, I would suggest using filtered water for all water changes and top off as well as hooking up a refugium and grow some calurpa to out compete the valonia.

Kim gross
Jen's Saltwater Haven