bubble algae, how to get rid of it

[sea-horsea]

My tank are doing fine but I have bubble algae problems which bothers me...I can't never get rid of it with my hands....the big one is easy to get rid of but the small ones b/t rocks and holes...impossible to get my fingers in...what should I do?? anything out there will control it??? Its a 30 gal. reef tank..help needed

[susie]

Try one or two emerald crabs, they did a great job riddiing my tank of it. Good Luck!

[carolina98]

I tried 2 emerald crabs in our 46 gallon... no luck. From what I understand, if the bubbles are too big the crabs won't eat it. I've heard that the foxface rabbit fish will eat it, but I have no personal experience with this fish.

I'm sure you know... but just in case, be sure not to bust the bubbles as you're removing them or the spores will just make a kagillion more bubbles!

Good luck!


[Edited by carolina98 on 11-29-2000 at 05:27 AM]

[Playfair]

The easiest and most effective method I have found to remove valonia is the burst and suck...

Turn off your pumps (so the spores don't blow around) and start a siphon using 1/4" semi-ridged plastic tubing (like that found on icemaker water lines) to "burst your bubble" and then siphon it's contents out of the tank. Use a finger over the siphon outlet to shut off flow when necessary.

The sausage type bubbles require "scraping" with the tubing while sucking, and is as effective. A great time to do this is while performing a water change, as you would be siphoning out water anyway.

ps- also works great on cyano, just twirl little circles over your sand until the junk forms little "tornados", then siphon out.

[petpoor]

The Foxface I have loves the stuff between him and my Purple Tang they keep it in check.It is never completely eliminated but it no longer gets out of hand.A 30 gallon might be a little small for a Foxface though.

[sea-horsea]

is emerald crabs safe?? cuz I heard that when they grow big they will be kindda aggressive toward shrimps and small fish.

[aqua43]

i have a seventy five reef tank and after my tank broke out with bubble algae i spoke to a few people in the reef community whose oppinion i rspect... they were very right.
you need to do a few things ... 1st find out why it is growing.. chances are you have relatively high phosphate levls .. while this is generall not harmful to fish and most inverts ... it makes bubble algae spread like wild fire
once you get rid of the phosphate (if you have any) you will still need to get rid of the bubbles that are currently in your tank(no more SHOULD grow after the phosphate has been removed) i bought 6 emeralds and by the time they hit the bottom of the tank theythey started going after it the next morning i woke up and they were still goin after it ... they are efficient and in a 30 gallon tank 4 should take care of it within 3weeks, if not there are a few fish which i personally have seen eat it. 1st is the foxface.. it would be hard to find one small enough for a 30, the rest are tangs,blonde naso tangs are great however very expensive and hard to hind small. next is the red sea purple, still very expensive but usually available smaller. last and probably your best be as far as price and size is the kole or yellow eyed tang they are usually available at about 1.75 inches and rarely more than 20 dollars... good luck
dave fry

[aqua43]

by the way from what i understand emerald crabs are completely herbivorous... so yes, they should be ok in a reef.

[DukeDog]

I got 2 emerald crabs that must have been on strike. I ended up removing the lr and manually removing them in a bucket of tank water. I got some small plastic tweezers that worked great. After removing the bubbles I would rinse the lr in the water and after 2-3 pieces I would through the water out and start again. A pain in the a**!!
HTH
Jeff

[FishDaddy]

Playfair makes good points regarding physical removal if you can do it. I had some Valonia {} in my 55 and because of the location of some of the clusters, resorted to a Mithrax. The first one didn't bother the Valonia so after two weeks, I added another. The second one went right to work and in another two weeks, the bubbles were gone. Then the crab began to forge for other foods, such as coralline; Yellow Polyps and yesterday, caught him pulling tentacles off my Tubastrea and eating them! :mad: His usefulness has expired! I have also fed him shrimp pellets, hoping to curb his appetite!
Emeralds may have a preference for algae but they, like all crabs, are omnivores.
Perhaps we need to set up a rental program for Emeralds so we can use them and lose them.
Dick:)