Bubble Algae Advice

BeanMachine

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Hey Guys and Gals,

So my tank has been going through some algae blooms lately (well started in the summer when I neglected the tank a bit) and finally I have a nice clean tank again with the exception of the bubble algae. Its slow spreading throughout the tank... its not out of control yet but I'm thinking I need to try to eradication the stuff before it does.

For those who have tried Emerald Crabs... are they guaranteed to eat it because I would hate to introduce one and instead of eating the bubbles it eats my corals and other inverts.

Rabbitfish- I don't want to add one... I've had one before and he was a glutten.

I may start with Manual removal being careful not to pop any of them and see if I can make a dent before I try an Emerald Crab or two.

Any other suggestions?
 
MedicBMC

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I was in your exact same position about 2-3 months ago. I neglected my tank and practically over night I had a bad outbreak of bubble algae....and I mean bad.

I started by switching out my chemi-pure and made my own from BRS ROX 0.8 and HC GFO. Then I bought an emerald crab. Since then I've seen a drastic reduction in bubble algae.

I would try an emerald crab although from my research I found it wasn't a guaranteed thing. I got lucky because mine seems to be eating them up slowly. Hopefully in another month they will be all gone and my tank will be algae free.
 
BeanMachine

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MedicBMC said:
I was in your exact same position about 2-3 months ago. I neglected my tank and practically over night I had a bad outbreak of bubble algae....and I mean bad.

I started by switching out my chemi-pure and made my own from BRS ROX 0.8 and HC GFO. Then I bought an emerald crab. Since then I've seen a drastic reduction in bubble algae.

I would try an emerald crab although from my research I found it wasn't a guaranteed thing. I got lucky because mine seems to be eating them up slowly. Hopefully in another month they will be all gone and my tank will be algae free.
Click to expand...
Yeah thanks for that. I do have Carbon and GFO... phosphates are now under control but all that's left is this dang bubble algae. I may have to try an emerald...
 
BeanMachine

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MedicBMC said:
Yeah I'd say give it a shot...be cautious though mine has taken an appetite for my toadstool.
Click to expand...
Ya that's what I don't want to happen so I may not... need to give it some thought. Did you try manual removal and you weren't successful with that?
 
gumbii

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what i did was to flip the rock over with the rock over the sand... it died and so did it's spores... never saw it again...

but if you have it all over the place...



yuck...
 
MedicBMC

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Well I tried manual removal which I quickly found out that it was going to take 12 hours so I stopped giving a $%&^ and against all advice I heard I started popping them. HAHA That was the the day I decided I needed to do something about this and I bought the emerald crab and change by Carbon and GFO. I was expecting it to come back with vengeance, but to my surprise it only got better.
 
BeanMachine

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gumbii said:
what i did was to flip the rock over with the rock over the sand... it died and so did it's spores... never saw it again...

but if you have it all over the place...



yuck...
Click to expand...
Its mainly on frags on the sand bed that I think I can remove, knock them off, then put them back in. I may give that a go this weekend...
 
RuffReef

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Emeralds are easy to catch once their usefulness has expired.

I use to use a small hollow acrylic rod with a sharp point attached to my water change hose. Pop the algae then suck it up.
 
dorkymk3

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so far I have two emerald crabs in my tank for a week hoping to see an improvement with my bubble algae control in my tank too.... I guess time will tell for now.
 
Gsxr1000rider

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What I would do is get a air tube,( the tube we use for air pumps) and attach a long thin plastic tube to the air tube and next time you do a wc suck the bubble algae that way. This way it will give u a lot of time to suck the stuff out and drain ur water..

This is what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeqtPe3XukM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
Emac909

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I had BA like crazy about 4 months ago. I bought 1 EC and started NoPoX (with lowered my no3&po4). Ive seen one or two bubbles lately. I have not seen the EC on one of my corals.
 
ReeferChick85

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I have 2 emerald crabs in my tank and they did an awesome job on my algae on the rocks and the bubble algae. I don't have any bubble algae left at all and it's been a good while too. They didn't bother my lps and softies at all. They just cruise around on the rocks and eat at the green algae on my rocks. :) I've only seen one lately tho
 
thresher

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Ditto here. The emeralds I added cleared the bubble fairly quickly. They are still small but lets see if there good behavior continues as they get larger.
 
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