How long can I keep ignoring bubble algae?

[KonradTO]

Hi all,

I really like where I am with my 32g tank right now and I am not willing to dose anything weird like Vibrant to my tank and risk to de-stabilize its ecosystem after so much struggle.
It took 1 full year (!!) to finally be able to maintain parameters mostly stable and see some decent coral growth.
BUT
I have been ignoring this bubble algae problem for a while. I have tiny bubbles (2-3 mm mostly) everywhere in every crack and pores of some of the rocks. Removing rocks and nuking its out of question, I love the diversity on the rocks. Manual removal I am not sure it's practical. Tried to use some metal tongs with the big ones but most of the time they explode. I got 2 emerald crabs, a small and a big one. The small one I haven't seen in a while, the big one does not seem to bother anything but it does not pick on the bubble algae either, or at least not when I observed it at night. What should I do? My LFS told me I can keep bringing back the crabs and swap them until I get one that eats bubble algae, so I was thinking to go that way.
Is there any other possible solution? I was thinking to prepare a second 10g tank, maybe I could move the rocks there and target dose something separately.. but still I would need to detach the rocks from each other and risk to de-stabilize my rockwork.

 

[zpete3323]

I personally have not had any luck with emerald crabs. They seem to do more destruction than good in my opinion.

I ended up taking a blunt pick tool from my fragging kit and a tiny locking scissors to manually lift the mat of bubbles and pull out what I could.

I know they say don't pop the bubbles it will spread more.... but that is what emerald crabs do when they do end up munching on them sooo I take the risk

 

[BaliReefBox]

i have only had a few bubbles to date,, touch wood. During water changes I got a section of airline hose on a long acrylic stick then kinda sucked them up..for the stubbon ones same, used a pick to detach them and syphon them out

 

[rwreef]

The only way I have successfully rid my tank of bubble algea is a foxface that loved it and Vibrant combined with water changes an manual removal over time.

 

[Gtinnel]

Before getting my foxface I would take a big metal straw and attach it to a piece of tubing. I would start a siphon to a filter sock in my sump and go around scraping and siphoning them into the sock. If you don’t have a sump you can just suck them out when doing a water change.

I had a few that I just ignored in my qt tank and they quickly took over the tank, so I wouldn’t ignore the issue for very long. If the lfs is willing to let you swap out emerald crabs I would do that also.

 

[BaliReefBox]

new business Crabs"R"Us

 

[Lavey29]

I rely on manual removal and emerald crab eating it which I have seen. Although, something in my tank is killing my crabs just not sure who the perpetrator is.

 

[KonradTO]

i have only had a few bubbles to date,, touch wood. During water changes I got a section of airline hose on a long acrylic stick then kinda sucked them up..for the stubbon ones same, used a pick to detach them and syphon them out

I think mine are a different species probably. They are very well attached and there is no way to suck them out just with airline. Maybe I could use a rigid tubing to siphon them while I burst them. In theory all the spores should go with the siphoned water..

 

[KonradTO]

Before getting my foxface I would take a big metal straw and attach it to a piece of tubing. I would start a siphon to a filter sock in my sump and go around scraping and siphoning them into the sock. If you don’t have a sump you can just suck them out when doing a water change.

I had a few that I just ignored in my qt tank and they quickly took over the tank, so I wouldn’t ignore the issue for very long. If the lfs is willing to let you swap out emerald crabs I would do that also.

Yes that's a good idea thanks. I might just siphon out what I scrap from the rocks. It will probably end up being a routine work but that's just another thing on top of other dozens. I really would like to find an emerald that keeps them at bay like some users report here on the forum, but yeah for now it did not work out too well

 

[Lavey29]

The female crabs seem to work better for me on it.

 

[KonradTO]

The female crabs seem to work better for me on it.

This is not the first time I hear this. I might swap mine with a female and see how it goes. A good experiment could be to leave the crab alone with a small rock covered with bubble algae and see whether it will eat the algae with and without providing alternative food.

 

[Lavey29]

This is not the first time I hear this. I might swap mine with a female and see how it goes. A good experiment could be to leave the crab alone with a small rock covered with bubble algae and see whether it will eat the algae with and without providing alternative food.

I think they eat it but it's not their first food choice. They eat easier stuff first.

 

[KonradTO]

I am quite worried of moving the rockwork around too much. It might move detritus around, kill stuff growing on the rocks or annoy corals growing on it for water chemestry fluctuations. Otherwise one solution would be to move the rockwork to a small tank with the crabs and no food until every bubble algae is gone. But I see too much risk in this.
I am curious to know how other people with heavy infestations solved the problem.

 

[flashsmith]

I am quite worried of moving the rockwork around too much. It might move detritus around, kill stuff growing on the rocks or annoy corals growing on it for water chemestry fluctuations. Otherwise one solution would be to move the rockwork to a small tank with the crabs and no food until every bubble algae is gone. But I see too much risk in this.
I am curious to know how other people with heavy infestations solved the problem.

I dust up my sand beds all the time to prevent buildup and never have an issue but then again my systems are much larger too and I've been doing that since day 1. I'm a strong advocate for keeping a thoroughly clean sand bed though because it could lead to tank crash down the line with all the built up trash. Do you run UV at all? That may help kill the spores. I'm no expert and my ways work for me. I have an 80 gallon system with bubble algae and I just took some of the more heavily infested pieces out. This tank is only a year old and most of the coral is what I would consider nuisance such as xenia gsp loads of shrooms and countless misc. Zoa polyps that I couldn't give away etc... The reason I mention uv is this tank doesn't have it. My main display does and its spotless and I know no matter how hard I try there has to be some cross contamination there.

 

[Lavey29]

If I were you, order like 5 pitho crabs. They are smaller, won't damage coral and more likely to go after bubble algae. I have minimal in my tank but if it increases that would be my next move. Reef Cleaners recommends them for bubble algae over emeralds.

 

[chthao]

my new pitho crab went straight for my torch coral, so no it lives in the sump....might have to just live with bubble algae and scrape off any close to my corals...