Green star polyps to combat bubble algae?

kwirky · May 4, 2021

I've been fighting bubble algae on and off for about a year now and I'm getting tired of it. I physically remove them with a hose and screw driver and they come back within a week. They detach from rock and end up in my powerheads, causing cascading issues. I'd rather grow GSP because at least it's not going to drift into the powerheads, plug them up, and subsequently crash the tank.

I'm thinking of introducing GSP to the trouble spots of the tank. I can rearrange some of my rocks to get rid of these trouble spots, but some of the SPS colonies can't really be moved (they're getting big, and are picky), and there will be situations of new spots on the rockwork becoming the new trouble spots.

I have a GSP colony gifted to me by some family members a while back (they brought it instead of wine) and I've segregated it in the corner of the tank. It's grown from 6" to almost 12" across, just sitting on glass, and I'm pretty sure I can introduce it to the spots of the tank which are infested with bubble algae.

Has anybody done this on purpose before? Do you think the nutrient uptake of GSP is less than bubble algae? If I can get something photosynthetic covering the rocks which doesn't metabolize as fast as bubble algae, I'm thinking I can keep my nutrients from being sucked up continually. My KH has been rock stable (7.9dkh) for months now, and if I continue to monitor it weekly and adjust my dosing pumps I can keep on top of any calcium uptake.

What do you think? Is this a bad idea?

DED65 · May 4, 2021

I think the bubble algae will out compete almost anything you can put in your tank, the stuff grows like weeds. I had it everywhere and the one thing that took it out was Vibrant. There is an entire thread on here if you want to read about the successes and failures. The only problem for me after dosing was some cyano that did go away.

kwirky · May 4, 2021

DED65 said:
I think the bubble algae will out compete almost anything you can put in your tank, the stuff grows like weeds. I had it everywhere and the one thing that took it out was Vibrant. There is an entire thread on here if you want to read about the successes and failures. The only problem for me after dosing was some cyano that did go away.

I'm already using vibrant, and it seems to be doing the same thing vodka dosing was doing: growing dinos. The bottle lists vinegar as an ingredient. I'm probably going to discontinue use of the vibrant since it's not helping and doesn't give much insight into what exactly one's adding to their tank. (side note: vendors protecting themselves with hidden proprietary products are a risk to tanks, wish they'd stop doing that).

I find it doesn't grow on the fleshy masses of the leather corals, doesn't grow on top of montis, doesn't grow on top of healthy acro flesh. Basically anything larger than 1/2" and with flesh (ruling out euphyila) stands up to bubble algae. And the GSP I have in the tank already doesn't get bubble algae on it (it's a lone colony I've relegated to a corner, not touching any rock).

Where it grows for me is among zoo colonies, on the edges of acro bases which have stressed, and anywhere close to the intake of a powerhead where stony corals never seem to like growing. It grows on the dead skeletal areas of birdsnest, the lower regions that have been light starved by the upper region of the birdsnest colony. If something stony dies, bubble algae takes its place.

I haven't witnessed it growing in the sump like some have reported but I've seen aiptasia in my sump (the copperband can't eat it when it's down there).

Pistondog · May 4, 2021

kwirky said:
I'm already using vibrant, and it seems to be doing the same thing vodka dosing was doing: growing dinos. The bottle lists vinegar as an ingredient. I'm probably going to discontinue use of the vibrant since it's not helping and doesn't give much insight into what exactly one's adding to their tank. (side note: vendors protecting themselves with hidden proprietary products are a risk to tanks, wish they'd stop doing that).

I find it doesn't grow on the fleshy masses of the leather corals, doesn't grow on top of montis, doesn't grow on top of healthy acro flesh. Basically anything larger than 1/2" and with flesh (ruling out euphyila) stands up to bubble algae. And the GSP I have in the tank already doesn't get bubble algae on it (it's a lone colony I've relegated to a corner, not touching any rock).

Where it grows for me is among zoo colonies, on the edges of acro bases which have stressed, and anywhere close to the intake of a powerhead where stony corals never seem to like growing. It grows on the dead skeletal areas of birdsnest, the lower regions that have been light starved by the upper region of the birdsnest colony. If something stony dies, bubble algae takes its place.

I haven't witnessed it growing in the sump like some have reported but I've seen aiptasia in my sump (the copperband can't eat it when it's down there).

Vibrant is algae eating bacteria, mostly.