Huge bubble algae problem
- Thread starter Shawcabelguy
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Reef flux (fluconazole) will slow it down but will not get rid of it. I tried it at 4x dosage .
Kasrift
7500 Club Member
Haha. You can search the threads on that product, I think they don't even make it anymore due to lawsuits.
But for more info, it is a fix that has other repercussions since it is an algaecide with other unlisted ingredients. Natural remedies are best, or products with known ingredients. I'm not fully against chemical remedies, but that one comes at a cost.
My anecdote is that Vibrant was shortly followed by dinos.
If I need an algecide again, I will buy Algaefix. To my knowledge they are exactly the same thing, although the makers of Vibrant falsely labeled their product as bacterial--enough people on here found no such bacteria under microscopy but did find the same spectra as Algaefix (I don't remember how, been a long time, maybe mass spec?).
@Tuan’s Reef agreed, although flux knocked my horrendous Valonia down by 99%. Now it is manageable -- although one business trip or vacation can almost ruin everything with it coming back while you're gone.
slingfox
Well-Known Member
If you are leaning towards Vibrant (as an alternative to leaving the hobby) then you may want to use Algaefix instead since it is much cheaper. Please report back here to let us know how things go.
fishnchips17
Community Member
So I was in same situation as you though my bubble algae wasn't as bad. Tried emerald crabs, though they ate some bubble algae, it wasn't nearly enough. Did alot of research and came to the conclusion that vibrant was my only option.
What I did was manually remove as much bubbles algae as I can then starting dosing vibrant slowly at half the recommended dose. I dosed about 2.2 ml every week for my 60 gal of total water volume.
I'm currently on the 3rd week and 95% of bubble algae is gone. No effect to any of my corals, I mainly have lps and soft corals though. I read that vibrant is the worst on sps.
I think I will continue for 1 more week so that I have 100% removal of bubble algae then I'll stop dosing vibrant and do a big water change.
So far vibrant has been working for me without any loses of corals. The reason why I went with vibrant instead of algaefix is because I'm in Canada and we can't get algaefix up here. Actually we can't get vibrant now either since it's a known algaecide now. I was lucky to find a bottle of vibrant from another reefer.
Good luck, and go slow with the vibrant if you choose to go that route.
What I did was manually remove as much bubbles algae as I can then starting dosing vibrant slowly at half the recommended dose. I dosed about 2.2 ml every week for my 60 gal of total water volume.
I'm currently on the 3rd week and 95% of bubble algae is gone. No effect to any of my corals, I mainly have lps and soft corals though. I read that vibrant is the worst on sps.
I think I will continue for 1 more week so that I have 100% removal of bubble algae then I'll stop dosing vibrant and do a big water change.
So far vibrant has been working for me without any loses of corals. The reason why I went with vibrant instead of algaefix is because I'm in Canada and we can't get algaefix up here. Actually we can't get vibrant now either since it's a known algaecide now. I was lucky to find a bottle of vibrant from another reefer.
Good luck, and go slow with the vibrant if you choose to go that route.
fishnchips17
Community Member
Yes, I've read that vibrant can give you Dino afterwards, but I think that's at full dosage. Since I'm only using half dose, I'm hoping I won't get Dino. Dino only appear because you wipe out all the algae competition for them so they have a chance to really grow, but with my half dosage of vibrant, hair algae is still growing in my tank.
Even if I get Dino, I've beaten them before so can do it again. Dino for me is preferable to bubble algae since I know I can beat dino.
Even if I get Dino, I've beaten them before so can do it again. Dino for me is preferable to bubble algae since I know I can beat dino.
Kasrift
7500 Club Member
How do you know they aren't?
All kidding aside, you are right. I think "your mileage may vary" would have been a good caveat though. Different tanks/inhabitants may have different reactions.
Joe.D
Active Member
I had a pretty big bubble algae breakout earlier this year - every weekend I’d scrape. My tank is a 75 gallon display. Finally got tired of that as the scraping and adding emerald crabs and one spot Foxface didn’t really help - it’d be back the following week. Just too many areas you can’t see and get to when you scrape.
I saw a thread on Reef2Reef from @brandon429 about using peroxide. His suggestion of pulling the rocks and spraying with peroxide did the trick for me. There’s still some in the system, but it’s only a few that I scrape and siphon into filter a sock before I do a water change.
I didn’t do all of my rock at once. Did it in 3 or 4 groups every few days.
When I pulled the rock I took off all of my frags - fortunately I didn’t have a ton of coral.
When I took the rock out I sprayed it with 3% peroxide that I picked up at the store. Let it sit for about 5 min and then scraped and scrubbed then rinsed with fresh saltwater before putting them back in and re-glued frags.
I’ve had it under control since then. I think the crabs and Foxface can help keep it under control when there isn’t a lot and the bubbles are rather small.
It’s a drastic step, you have to redo your aquascape, but it worked for me.
Also, I know this forum is about 50-50 on whether to pop or not. I say scrape and pop away (as long as you suck out what you can). The crabs and Foxface pop it when they eat. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Good Luck!
I saw a thread on Reef2Reef from @brandon429 about using peroxide. His suggestion of pulling the rocks and spraying with peroxide did the trick for me. There’s still some in the system, but it’s only a few that I scrape and siphon into filter a sock before I do a water change.
I didn’t do all of my rock at once. Did it in 3 or 4 groups every few days.
When I pulled the rock I took off all of my frags - fortunately I didn’t have a ton of coral.
When I took the rock out I sprayed it with 3% peroxide that I picked up at the store. Let it sit for about 5 min and then scraped and scrubbed then rinsed with fresh saltwater before putting them back in and re-glued frags.
I’ve had it under control since then. I think the crabs and Foxface can help keep it under control when there isn’t a lot and the bubbles are rather small.
It’s a drastic step, you have to redo your aquascape, but it worked for me.
Also, I know this forum is about 50-50 on whether to pop or not. I say scrape and pop away (as long as you suck out what you can). The crabs and Foxface pop it when they eat. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Good Luck!
stephanjupillat
Active Member
+1 Fritz algae clean. Took about 2 month to get rid of all of it but started seeing results about halfway through. Never came back after that. Definitely works.
Buckster
2500 Club Member
I have bubble algae in my 32. I removed two yellow tangs from a third tank and put them into the 180 but other tangs were aggressive towards them. I got them out and put them in the 32. After a couple of weeks I noticed that the bubble algae was almost gone except in some hard to get areas. I guess that would now be my job to get my hands wet to help the tangs but with the little bit that's remaining I thought about leaving it so the tangs can have something else to eat!
SteveMM62Reef
Valuable Member
I got a piece of Lee’s 1/2” Thin-wall Rigid Tubing from a LFS. Heated and Sping bent it on the hose end. Electrical Taped a Cheap SS Table Knife to the Rigid Tube, and went to work Scrapping and Syphoning. The water went to a filter Sock in my Sump, I pulled, Cleaned and Cloroxed each session. Added Three Emerald Crabs to the 65 Gallon to eat the buds, left over. One was a Male, and when it got big started on my Corals. Remembered Crabbing, put a tiny piece of raw chicken on a stick. Caught him and put him in the overflow, to go after the Bubble Algae in there.
Daftendire
Community Member
I used fluconazole at 2-3x the dose. It appears to pause the new growth allowing for manual removal.
I tried the fritz algae product previously and it gave me dinos. Would not recommend algaecide as a first step.
I tried the fritz algae product previously and it gave me dinos. Would not recommend algaecide as a first step.
IDK why people dont look into this approach sometimes
Manual removal then add a few emeralds.
Joe.D
Active Member
I bought some cheap stainless dental tools on amazon and used small zip ties to attach to a piece of tubing that I use for siphoning into a filter sock. Found that worked really well.
I haven‘t seen my emerald crabs since I pulled the rock to clean with peroxide. I’m sure they’re in there - but I can’t find them. Even shining a light a night - don’t see them. Coral’s are ok so far - no crab damage.
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