Are there any critters suitable for a 75g that will eat green bubble algae or red turf algae?

[kdx7214]

I've got a situation I'm not sure how to solve. I have a massive outbreak of what I thought was valonia. I'm no longer certain that's what it is. It certainly looks like it, but it survived a 6 week treatment with 4x dose of fluconazole and thought it was a nice holiday. This stuff grows so fast I can remove it and it's back in the same quantity the next day. I've tried mithrax crabs but no go. I've tried pithos crabs, but they only eat the smallest of the stuff and not fast enough to help. I've not yet found anything that will eat the red turf algae.

I've read about urchins, but not all of my tank is urchin-safe and I really don't want it to kill some of the really nice branching coraline that I have growing.

All of the fish I've read about that will take care of this are too large for a 75g. The closest is a one spot foxface rabbitfish.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tahoe61]

I would go window shopping at Reef Cleaners.

 

[kdx7214]

I would go window shopping at Reef Cleaners.

That's where I ordered from the last time. The problem is that nothing they have will eat either of the two I have problems with

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Emerald Crabs may eat bubble algae

 

[JTP424]

I'm curious how many Mithrax/Emeralds you tried at a time as well as Pitho.
I find it more beneficial to over order CUC.

 

[exnisstech]

Emerald Crabs may eat bubble algae

Reefcleaners used to guarantee their emeralds would eat bubble algae. I have no idea what happens if they don't.

 

[danlechem]

I wasted £50 on emeralds for bubble algae. They picked at every bit of rock in the tank except the parts that had bubble algae on!

 

[reeflife3]

Reef Cleaners sell Pitho Crabs, people on here have said really good things about them eating bubble algae

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[lbacha]

I put 10 pitho crabs in my 50 gallon low boy to deal with a bubble algae outbreak. The only place I see it now is where they can't get to.

 

[kdx7214]

I'm curious how many Mithrax/Emeralds you tried at a time as well as Pitho.
I find it more beneficial to over order CUC.

I ordered three emerald mithrax, one arrived alive. I ordered three pithos, again one arrived alive. I think Reef Cleaners needs to change their shipping policies on crabs. Honestly though, the mithrax never ate any of it. It did eat on my chalice though. Not sure if mithrax actually eat bubble algae.

At this point I'm sort of thinking of an urchin. I'll lose the nice branching coraline that I have, but at this point enough is enough. It's that or just wipe the whole dang tank and go fish only. I'd really like to figure out how to keep corals alive and thriving, but so far I'm failing miserably.

 

[JTP424]

I ordered three emerald mithrax, one arrived alive. I ordered three pithos, again one arrived alive. I think Reef Cleaners needs to change their shipping policies on crabs. Honestly though, the mithrax never ate any of it. It did eat on my chalice though. Not sure if mithrax actually eat bubble algae.

At this point I'm sort of thinking of an urchin. I'll lose the nice branching coraline that I have, but at this point enough is enough. It's that or just wipe the whole dang tank and go fish only. I'd really like to figure out how to keep corals alive and thriving, but so far I'm failing miserably.

Can you break off what's grown and put it in like an acclimation box or a magnetic frag rack to keep it away from the urchin?

 

[kdx7214]

Can you break off what's grown and put it in like an acclimation box or a magnetic frag rack to keep it away from the urchin?

Actually, I've just been reading that even urchins won't eat bubble algae. It seems nothing that fits in a 75g does lol

Honestly, I don't know if branching coraline can be fragged that way or not. There's not a ton of info out there that I've found on the stuff.

 

[VintageReefer]

I have a 75g and eliminated bubble algae outbreak

1) ordered 2 pithos crabs from reef cleaners. In the arrival bag, I dropped in bubble algae. They started eating it. This looked good

Put them in the tank. Over next week they did eat a lot of bubble algae. But then started eating lps corals. I rehomed the pithos crabs

2) bubble algae population was reduced. I ordered 3 emerald crabs. I’ve tried them before unsuccessfully. Didn’t lay much attention but now 1 month later I can’t find bubble algae anywhere except my power head grates. This is easily removed and scrubbed in a sink

Urchins don’t eat it

 

[kdx7214]

I have a 75g and eliminated bubble algae outbreak

1) ordered 2 pithos crabs from reef cleaners. In the arrival bag, I dropped in bubble algae. They started eating it. This looked good

Put them in the tank. Over next week they did eat a lot of bubble algae. But then started eating lps corals. I rehomed the pithos crabs

2) bubble algae population was reduced. I ordered 3 emerald crabs. I’ve tried them before unsuccessfully. Didn’t lay much attention but now 1 month later I can’t find bubble algae anywhere except my power head grates. This is easily removed and scrubbed in a sink

Urchins don’t eat it

I suspect I might have a non-valonia strain of bubble algae, if that's a thing. The pithos that survived did eat some of the small stuff. I don't have any LPS so I'm not too worried about that. I also tried the emerald crabs without success, but part of that may simply due to the lack of living crabs that arrived. I've contact reef cleaners again and will see what comes of it.

What about red turf algae? I've tried a toothbrush to clean it, but have yet to find anything short of possibly a wire brush that will remove the stuff.

 

[VintageReefer]

Red turf is hard to deal with. What’s it on ? If it’s rock is the rock removable temporarily ? 15 min then put back ?

 

[SliceGolfer]

Mexican Turbo snails were the only thing to put a mild dent in my red turf algae. I ended up breaking down the tank and bleaching the rock.

 

[waqas_01]

My one spot foxface decimated my bubble algae in all places it could reach it.

On occasion it pecks at the red algae that grows on my powerheads.

I would get a small to medium sized one and let it eat and grow.

 

[kdx7214]

Red turf is hard to deal with. What’s it on ? If it’s rock is the rock removable temporarily ? 15 min then put back ?

It's definitely on the rock, but also on the return and a gyre. I can remove some of the rock it's on, but not all of it as it's a permanent setup. Any advice on what to do with the ones I can remove?

 

[kdx7214]

Mexican Turbo snails were the only thing to put a mild dent in my red turf algae. I ended up breaking down the tank and bleaching the rock.

I'm trying to avoid that as I've already got 3 years into this tank. I'm trying really hard to avoid something like vibrant.

 

[kdx7214]

My one spot foxface decimated my bubble algae in all places it could reach it.

On occasion it pecks at the red algae that grows on my powerheads.

I would get a small to medium sized one and let it eat and grow.

I'm not sure I can even find one, or that if I could I'd be okay with buying a fish that would outgrow the tank. I'm a 2 hour drive from the nearest decent LFS, so not really an option to rehome easily. If you know of a place that has them reliably please let me know. I've been searching for a couple of months now and the only thing I've found was one place that had one for $400, which is way out of my price range.