Bubble Algae. 3 years. Done all kinds of things. Give me all you have.

[Neo Jeo]

Vibrant +1.

Within a few doses the bubbles turn white and die. I'm unsure if it completely eliminates it from the system as fluconazole does with bryopsis, but it certainly works and gives you a fighting chance. The intention is that Vibrant continues to be used as a lower maintenance dose basically forever. But make sure you don't let it take your nitrates down to absolute zero or your corals will suffer.

Also, a small army of emerald crabs does put a dent in it.

Urchins eat it when it's physically accessible to them.

Vibrant All day! Hit it hard! Foxface all day ! Good luck.

When I was younger I took down my tank bc of this stuff.

 

[TexasReefer82]

I don't know what exactly triggers a polyp bail out. Poci's and stylo's are famous for doing it. Not sure if they do it because they're happy or unhappy.

What the polyps do is float around the tank, settle somewhere else, attach, and grow a new colony. So if you see any tiny colonies growing elsewhere in the tank that consist of only a few polyps they probably came from a bail out.

 

[Rickyrooz]

I had luck with double the weekly dose of Vibrant and loaded an 80 gallon tank with 36 Emerald crabs. Manually removing as much as possible helps speed the process up.

 

[w2inc]

I have no experience with bubble algae, but whenever I found something I wanted to get rid of I used an old, cheap steamcleaner. No aiptaisia, hydroid, vermitid snail or pink cotton algae survived my 'cooking' technique, and I can't see how bubble algae could.

Did you modify a special nozzle? Do you still have it and can you post a photo?

 

[Travis Warren]

I tried many items and finally after 8 months found the best way to kill red bubble algae. I used chemiclean from Boyd enterprises and litterly 5 days later no bubble algae. Been 4 months now and still do not have any green or red bubble algae. This stuff works and did not kill my macro algae I .The huge and no coral was killed or hurt. Wish someone would of told me about this products a when I was searching.

 

[Tompickles]

Foxface worked for me. I still see bubbles in the small cracks in the rock but he keeps all other areas he can reach spotless

 

[MabuyaQ]

Did you modify a special nozzle? Do you still have it and can you post a photo?

I no longer have it (pest free so not a problem), but will be setting up a new/larger aquarium end this year or beginning next year with new life rock so will get a new one as I will be needing one as there no longer seems to be such a thing as pest free life rock. It was just a standard Clatronic (a cheap brand here in the EU, one similar to their current model DR3653) with the standard jet nozzle attached to the hose. The greatest thing with steam is that you can get in those holes where Aiptasia have a foothold, the effect is localized and it is reef safe (just hot RODI so with flow you can easily/quickly dissipate it).

 

[Mike N]

I had no luck with emeralds eating the bubble algae, until I started ordering them from @reefcleaners

John guarantees his emerald crabs will eat bubble algae and they absolutely do.

 

[bblumberg]

A fox face will eat bubble algea ...failing that ....have you tried vibrant liquid cleaner ..that worked for me ...

++
I have foxfaces in both of my reefs and they got rid of bubble algae in short order. Prior to that, emerald crabs, vibrant, fluconazole and peroxide+scrubbing did not eliminate it. There may be some bubbles down in the rocks that I can't see, but I have not seen a single bubble for more than a year now.

 

[Mike N]

++
I have foxfaces in both of my reefs and they got rid of bubble algae in short order. Prior to that, emerald crabs, vibrant, fluconazole and peroxide+scrubbing did not eliminate it. There may be some bubbles down in the rocks that I can't see, but I have not seen a single bubble for more than a year now.

Do the foxfaces nip at your corals?

 

[bblumberg]

Do the foxfaces nip at your corals?

Not that I have seen.

 

[Mike N]

Not that I have seen.

Great to know. Thanks.

 

[erk]

Embrace the bubbles. Emerald crabs will keep it from spreading, but you will need to prune back as much as you can. Some urchins will keep it in check as well. But nothing will eradicate it. Just like everything else in our reef tanks, the second conditions are favorable, it will be back.

 

[engja123]

++
I have foxfaces in both of my reefs and they got rid of bubble algae in short order. Prior to that, emerald crabs, vibrant, fluconazole and peroxide+scrubbing did not eliminate it. There may be some bubbles down in the rocks that I can't see, but I have not seen a single bubble for more than a year now.

Which type of foxface in particular have you had the most luck with?

 

[Oshengems]

Stepping in here just to say Vibrant is def not magic oils it works! I have not seen bubble algae in my tank and definitely dissolved it

 

[w2inc]

I had no luck with emeralds eating the bubble algae, until I started ordering them from @reefcleaners

John guarantees his emerald crabs will eat bubble algae and they absolutely do.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I had forgotten he guarantees them. I got a pack from him a few months back along with some urchins and fuzzy chitons. The urchins and chitons do some good work. Urchins started fragging my thin stalked Digi corals for me so I pulled them.

All Chitons disappeared except one. But that one is dong what I was told he wold do. Generally staying with one rock until it is clean and moving on. He prefers smooth rocks. He didn't do much on the Pukani. I am not sure that he was supposed to eat bubbles, I cant say that he does. His rock is always clean and nice looking but does have a patch of bubbles at the base of one of the corals. The Chiton is kind of a strange and cool thing. I like to have it in the background.

I cant say that I saw a difference with his emeralds. I really cant tell his from my old ones either. I haven't seen mine going after bubbles. There is really no way of getting them out of the tank or proving that they aren't ever eating bubble algae so I kind of blew off the warranty. Maybe I will check in with John and see how he works things for defective crabs. Refunds are always nice to have.

 

[w2inc]

Embrace the bubbles. Emerald crabs will keep it from spreading, but you will need to prune back as much as you can. Some urchins will keep it in check as well. But nothing will eradicate it. Just like everything else in our reef tanks, the second conditions are favorable, it will be back.

It is just so difficult to do. Waking up in the morning to one of your new frags burning to death after being pried off the rock by a new cluster of bubble algae forming at the base. I do a clean out on occasion and try to ignore it. It explodes when I forget to check my DI resin. So it is kind of a nice backup indicator that way. I would love to just have it gone.

 

[w2inc]

Vibrant All day! Hit it hard! Foxface all day ! Good luck.

When I was younger I took down my tank bc of this stuff.

I am still considering taking that tank down because of that stuff. I have. new build going up and I am doing my best to keep it clean from the start.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

I’ve been battle it for months now....I think I’m just going to admit defeat. Besides after several beers and an extra 3 feet away from the tank bubble algae actually looks very attractive!

 

[bblumberg]

Which type of foxface in particular have you had the most luck with?

Plain foxface rabbitfish from online vendor. Definitely try this before taking down the tank. Foxface and lawnmower blennie keep algae almost undetectable in my tanks.