bubble algae

Pyro22 · #1 12/05/2006, 09:36 PM

I have a serious case of bubble algae in my tank. When I try to remove it I get about 5 out then one breaks (which I know creats more). I've tried taken the rocks out and breaking pieces of the rock off where the bubble algea is growing. Still more grows.

I heard emerald crabs might help, but some say that isnt so.

any advise would be most beneficial.

acwilson · #2 12/05/2006, 09:50 PM

I had a small outbreak in my 75g, so I got one emerald crab and he took care of it. I think they are great and is the only effective method that I know of besides manually removing them.

RamPuppy · #3 12/05/2006, 09:52 PM

remove the big ones gently w/ your fingers, get an emerald to take care of the rest.

if your havnig a serious problem w/ it remember that it's a symptom, not the problem itself, which is nutrients. starve it and and it will die.

Pyro22 · #4 12/06/2006, 03:04 PM

I knew I had a problem with nutrients. I am using a PhosBan reactor that I change every 3-4 months and I do monthly water changes. I also have macro algae in my sump.

Why am i still having a nutrient problem?

any other ways of removing nutrients?

drstupid · #5 12/06/2006, 04:25 PM

i've got a bad bubble algae problem, three different varieties even. i've got a DSB in the main tank and the fuge, chaeto growing (slowly) in the fuge, and run a phosban reactor constantly. there are no detectable nitrates or phosphates with standard tests. that's one of the problems with this algae, it can thrive with very little nutrients in the system. i don't know what you can do to limit its growth through nutrient control.

as far as predation, my four emerald crabs do nothing except knock over new frag plugs. i've heard a red sea sailfin tang will chow them down quickly, but hesitate to add a fish that will outgrow my tank eventually.

i manually remove big bubbles when i do water changes while holding a 5/8" siphon line near the bubbles when i pluck them. most don't break. the problem is, a lot of them are deep in the cracks or buried in the rock work, and there's really no way to get to them.

i'm very curious to hear what others have to suggest about your problem.

TekCat · #6 12/06/2006, 05:05 PM

I've heard that Foxface and Pincushion urchin might chew on this plague. I have BA slowly spreading, and I also need some sort of control (besides manual removal).

Drake1 · #7 12/06/2006, 10:51 PM

tangs will do nothing. just pop them, popping them WON'T make them spread unless they are at sexual maturity which means they have to be huge. but even if you did break a mature one it really doesn't matter since either you try and remove it and break it or it pops its self to let out its spores either way to have it. don't sweat it thought i have had my reef for 16 years and i have seen that they grow in spurts and starve them selfves out, my tank they will go away for up to a few years for no reason then just show back up again for 6 months or so then go away with nothing changing in the tank
jeff

RamPuppy · #8 12/06/2006, 10:54 PM

I would increaase water changes from monthly to bi-monthly at the very least... user your powerheads to spray detrius off your rocks before you start sucking water out.

Pyro22 · #9 12/07/2006, 06:14 PM

How often would you change the Phosban media

drstupid · #10 12/07/2006, 10:16 PM

so drake: i should just rip 'em out when i feel like it, not worry about popping them, and expect they'll wax and wane and not take over the tank and eat the family dog?

got any advice on how to get rid of bryopsis? when i upgraded last summer i got a bunch of rock from a guy breaking down a tank locally, he said don't worry that stuff's not a problem. well, it doesn't spread quickly, but it doesn't go away either. nothing will eat it!

Drake1 · #11 12/07/2006, 10:50 PM

do some reading on them it took some 3 hours of searching the net and reading 15 different research pages on them. maybe there are different species but i have only seen and read about the one. most people will see a few in there tank and that goes with what i have read about them since over 25 different live rock from differnt parts of the south pacific were tested and all showed spores so if you have LV you have the spores i guess. all i have to say is that i have broken hundreds of them when i had no idea what they even were and they have never gotten worst from it. one of the pages said it all, pop them or not you have the spores in your tank already so what difference does it make, just one has over a few million cells in it. plus what is a crab or urchin going to do to it, break it open and eat the shell and let the cells out

Drake1 · #12 12/07/2006, 11:17 PM

i have seen a few people with bad bryopsis. all you really need to do is do a good 80% water change twice, maybe 7 days apart if you have it bad. i have a patch of it and if i don't change my water for a few weeks it will start to grow and then die back when i do two 30 gallon water changes in a week. it seem to really need alot of nutrients to grow. just my 2 cents
jeff

2swift · #13 12/07/2006, 11:30 PM

Hi all just thought I would add my 2 cents.
I had a bad problem at start up and did all the live stock stuff with no real success but I did get rid of them in a bit of an unconventional way take it or leave for what its worth.
Things I used.
1-6F 1/2" hose
2-15 gallon plastic tote for waste at water change.
3-15 gallon fresh sw mix
4- Dental tool or pick will work.

Locate problem are start siphon, pluck & repeat. The siphon is there to remove lose spoors.

sjm817 · #14 12/07/2006, 11:35 PM

BA is not a symptom of a water quality problem. BA is a low nutrient algea and will grow just fine in tanks with great water parameters. I had no luck with Emerald crabs or Foxface. Pull the rock out and remove it.

2swift · #15 12/07/2006, 11:55 PM

sorry maybe 3/8 hose

drstupid · #16 12/08/2006, 10:21 AM

so for the BA: that's pretty much the procedure i use, except you're missing the part where i'm focusing on picking out the algae and overflow the 5 gallon bucket all over the living room floor.

i'm going to follow all of your advice, siphon it out when it bothers me, and try not to worry about it too much in the meantime.

drake, for the bryopsis, maybe that's not what i have. it survived me cooking the rocks for 3 weeks with no light when i got them. i'll try to get a good picture and post it (perhaps in a new thread to stay on topic). it's almost like 1" long astroturf, really tough, dark green. the crabs and most of the snails ignore it, although i found a stomatellid enjoying some the other day. my hippo tang tears at it occasionally, but can't make a dent in the population. it doesn't grow quickly, so i'm not too worried about it, but it does collect detrius.

Drake1 · #17 12/08/2006, 08:29 PM

DRstupid...what kind of salt are you using...please tell me isn't instant ocean
jeff

drstupid · #18 12/08/2006, 10:41 PM

yep. convenience vs. quality.

Drake1 · #19 12/08/2006, 11:09 PM

i posted this in another forum on my results with instant ocean..this might explain some of your problem with algae
here is my results with instant ocean salt, for 15 years i used coralife and never had problem but i switched to IO because it was on sale and got 2 buckets. i have a dedicated 30 gallon tank for my water changes. my 30 gallon water change tank is filled by my RO/DI system and it always reads 0 to 7. the change tank will always leave the last 5 gallons in it since the bulkhead is a little off the bottom. after 3 weeks i noticed that i had algae growing in the water change tank! and this wasn't just little stuff it turned into red algae! the only thing that algae had to eat was whatever was in the salt since the water reading for TDS was 0. since then i have noticed a terriable algea outbreak in my reef. when i switched back to coralreef algae when away. dr. ron had the same type of results i believe. odd how nothing but pure water and IO salt could grow that much algae, and red slime need lots of food so i'm guessing there much be lots of nitrates and phospates in there salt. i know the salt didn't have the live algea but it carried over on my salinity meter when i was checking my reef tank and then my water change tank there is a picture of my water change tank in my profile... i will try and get some pics of the algae that was going in there, i know i took some but not sure what file there in. http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...p?photo=194608
jeff

drstupid · #20 12/09/2006, 10:33 AM

thanks jeff, i'm going to order a couple of buckets of coralife from dr fosters and smith and give it a shot. i'll shout out in a month or so if it makes a difference in the bryopsis or the valonia.

GroYurOwn · #21 12/09/2006, 12:43 PM

bubble algae is so not a big deal, it will come and go and freaking out about it will do no good....and the idea of removing a rock just because of some BA seems a little drastic to me, youre going to get it, period. i have had probably 5 tanks and have had patches come and go in all of them. we are trying to mimic nature right? well guess what....theres BA in nature.....