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Green bubble algae

K

ken6217

Does anyone know the cause and how to eliminate this? I am not sure which species it is. My tank is setup a little over a year and I have no other algae in the tank now, as well as any other time since the tank has been setup. This includes even the first few months.

I have no measurable levels of nitrate or phosphate in the tank. I also run RowaPhos in a Phosban reactor.

Thanks,
Ken
 
L

lanceb13

I bought some live rock that came with the extra bonus of a bubble algae infestation. It was loaded with it. I was able to eliminate almost all of it in a few months by adding 5 emerald crabs to the tank. They come out at night so I never really see them eating it, but they definitely did the trick. Hope they can help you too.
 
H

harryk

the only way to remove it is by manually removing the bubbles without breaking them. using emerald crabs which are hit or miss or by removing the rock and baking it in the over at 400 for about an hour like i did. It worked like a charm

Harry
 
K

ken6217

I had heard that too. I bought 8 emerald crabs last week. I haven't see any change though. I was more curious on how/why this algae grows so I know how to prevent it.
Ken
 
C

Carlo

The best (not easiest) way is to remove the rock from the tank and pull them off by hand. If possible you don't want to break/burst them in the tank as that helps them spread.

The hour at 400 degrees is my favorite method but it makes a royal mess in the oven and stinks pretty badly.

As far as in tank cleanup the emerald crab is the only reliable method that seems to work for most people. The way the emerald crab eats the bubbles the typically don't spread (which is good)!

Carlo
 
M

mladencovic

Carlo said:
The best (not easiest) way is to remove the rock from the tank and pull them off by hand. If possible you don't want to break/burst them in the tank as that helps them spread.

The hour at 400 degrees is my favorite method but it makes a royal mess in the oven and stinks pretty badly.

As far as in tank cleanup the emerald crab is the only reliable method that seems to work for most people. The way the emerald crab eats the bubbles the typically don't spread (which is good)!

Carlo
Click to expand...

There are several types of bubble algae that are common in our tanks.

Ventricaria ventricosa and Valonia macrophysa form large bubbles. Some people advocate using syringe first to puncture the bubble and suck-out the interior liquid that contains spores. I am personally a bit dubious about the effectiveness of such thing because a) you could never drain it 100%, and even the smallest amount of liquid left will contain plenty of spores, b) as you pull the syring out, there could be a small transfer of spores from the tip of the syringe and c) if you already have a grown algae in your tank, you probably have spores in the first place, anyway, so a few more would not make a difference. So I just pull them out if they really bother me, and I don't worry if I break them or not. Sometemies they are wedged in the rock or among corals, so in that case I just puncture them (which pretty much destroys them :) )

Valonia utricularis and Valonia aegagropila are quite a different story. Those bubbles are much smaller, but then they grow in colonies that cover the rock. It is quite impossible to manually remove them. The only way I can see them being efficiently removed is by pulling the rock and baking it like Carlo and Harry have suggested. Emerald crabs are hit or miss as they might find some other food more easier or tastier.

Here is a nice article about bubble algae:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/hcj/feature/index.php
 
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