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Controlling Bubble Algae

H

harryk

Hello,

I have a piece of live rock that has bubble algae on it. I currently just manually remove it. No other rock has any that I have seen so it hasn't spread to date. If i remove the rock how can i kill the bubble algae? Also if it does spread how do i control it. Any information is appreciated

Thanks
Harry
 
JohnS_323

JohnS_323

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
We have a couple of emerald crabs in our all of our tanks and they do a really good job of keeping it in check.

Oh yeah, Welcome to NJRC!
 
H

harryk

thanks John, I know of the emerald crabs but i have heard mixed reviews about them. Since it's only on one rock it would probably be easier to do something to get rid of it permanently
 
C

Carlo

Several choices. Throw the rock in the oven for 30 to 60 minutes at 400 F will kill everything in and on the rock. This is my preferred quick fix for rocks. This can make a little mess in the oven from the water dripping out of the rock. Put some tin-foil under it.

Alternately, boil some water and sit the rock in the hot water. Same effect.

Let rock cool for say an hour, clean off what you can and put back into tank.

If you don't like the "hot" instant method. You can take some RO or tap water and spike the pH super high with kalk mix. I mean high. This will also kill off the bubble algae. I'd let it sit overnight and then flush it pretty good in some additional water to get any kalk out of the rock. Clean rock and put back in tank.

I prefer the hot method. Matter of fact I do this with all live or dead rock and sand I receive. It litterly gets cooked before it enters my system. I don't want any hitch hikers or parasites making it into my system.

Carlo
 
H

harryk

Carlo,

Doesn't the rock need to be cured again? Won't it cause an ammonia spike when it gets put back into the tank without being cycled again? And also will the heat kill the coraline algae?

thanks
Harry
 
C

Carlo

If we're only talking a rock or two here there is nothing to worry about. There will be plenty of bacteria on the other rocks to take care of any little bit of ammonia spike that would otherwise happen.

I'd obviously brush off any obvious stuff from the outside of the rock since there is no point of putting anything dead in the tank.

Absolute worse case IMHO is that you could see a very small ammonia spike and if you are worried about it dose a small amount of Seachem's Prime or similar product (cheap) to bind up the ammonia/nitrite (if any at all) to give the existing bacteria a chance to process it. Prime is great for this and will bind any ammonia/nitrites for 48 hours. Can always dose again in 48 hours if needed. This in my opinion is extreme as there really shouldn't be any noticeable effect from "treating" one rock in a typical system.

Carlo
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

I use a 3/8" dia. hard plastic tube and attach it to a vinyl siphon tube. Which I run into an 8 watt UV sterilizer hanging on the edge of my sump with a filter bag on the output. Then I just poke and scrape at all of the nasty bits on the rock I don't want, hair & bubble algae, cyano, etc... The theory is the UV kills the spores and filter bag catches the big chunks.

I also keep a couple emerald crabs just in case.
 
blange3

blange3

Bubble algae looks cool. I'm thinking of having a bubble algae tank! ;D

Just kidding! Emerald crabs and keeping the nutrients down keeps it in check. If I can remove it manually without too much effort, I'll pick it off as well.

Nice little setup there Jeff! Maybe you can take it on the road as a maintenance business!
 
C

Carlo

Just a little tip I'll throw out concerning Emerald and your common red and blue legged hermits. Don't add them to a new tank. WAIT, these little buggers will eat a lot of your coralline algae. It can easily take 4 times as long to get good coralline algae growing in your tank with them present.

If you wait till the time your rocks look good to you, then add them to the tank you'll be happier overall.

Carlo
 
H

harryk

i wasn't really thrilled with the idea of adding an emerald crab, that is more of a last resort. It's easier for me to remove the one rock and cook it than putting a new crab in my tank.

thanks all for all the input
 
C

Carlo

Don't go running off and cook your rock yet. See if anyone else has any other ideas first. You might like another person's idea better or think it's "safer" for your tank.

I'm interested in hearing some other ideas too.

Carlo
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
Will bubble algae just 'go away' once it's nutrients are depleted, like hair and the rest of the nusiance algaes?

My hair algae is finally gone, but I have a lot of bubble algae on a rock that isn't easy to get out of the tank.

I have very low nutrients in my tank, and halimedia and chaeto growing...just wondering if this stuff will go away on it's own, eventually...
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

It's like any other nusiance algae. You have to remove it AND reduce the nitrates, phosphates, etc...to keep it from coming back. It generally dosen't just "disappear". You can remove it manually or by adding some kind of predator to remove it. If you add a predator to remove it what will it eat once the algae is gone? Hopefully not something your trying to keep.
 
1

120gallons

I have 2 emeralds and red and blue hermits and a huge amount of coralline. I've had the crabs from the beginning. Some of the blues get to be big and a pain. If I were doing it again I'd only get reds...they seem much more peaceful.

I make sure everyone in the tank is well fed, corals, crabs, fish...

I think where you run into problems is when the crabs are really hungry. Even when they are fed they still scavenge by instinct. But when they are hungry, I think they'll eat more good things.
 
C

Carlo

Subliminal said:
I have very low nutrients in my tank, and halimedia and chaeto growing...just wondering if this stuff will go away on it's own, eventually...
Click to expand...

That's a contridition in a way. If the nutrients are truly low the macro algae will die off. If it just about stays the same size without growing you're at an ideal level. If it completely dies off you might want a little more nutrients in the system or skim drier.

Make sense?

Carlo
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
Ok, I guess the point I was trying to make is that because of the ro/di, the small amount of feeding and the macroalgaes, I would think there would be very little nutrients left for the bubble algae, and I was wondering if it will just go away on it's own, the way the hair algae did.
 
RichT

RichT

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I would purposely break them with a siphon hose while doing a water change. That way you suck up the spores. Then I would go in and get whatever, if anything was left stuck to the rock.
 
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