I need help setting up a unusual saltwater tank for my moms Christmas present. Basically I wanna grow bubble algae.

[F i s h y]

Macroalgae (all types of desirable algae)

This is the forum for discussing all types of macros (chaeto, caulerpa, gracilaria, halimeda, or any other kind of macro you can think of)! Need tips for growing or troubleshooting desirable algae? Wanna show off your macroalgae display or refugium? Post here!

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cole.mormon]

he has a point

 

[Cole.mormon]

tap has many different nutrients in it

 

[Joshcom]

There will be a distinct difference between battling unsightly cyano bacteria, dinos, and slime algae versus growing beautiful macro algae as the OP wants. There are a whole host of individuals on this forum that have devoted time to only growing macro algae. I recommend the OP looks for advice there....

Cyano and red slime are easy fixes with chemi clean and dino shouldn't happen in a high nutrient system like this I agree macro tanks should be treated like reefs but op is specifically trying to grow valonia/bubble algea which isnt as picky as most other macros, now I'm not saying op shouldn't use rodi if they want I'm Just saying that if they dont already have a rodi filter it's not really needed to be successful with this specific tank.

 

[40g Nano]

emerald crab
3 red leg hermits
one mexican turbo snail
3 astrea snails

emerald crab eats them

 

[footgal]

Don’t worry about the bubbles, I have plenty and will probably have plenty for months to come as 2 of my tanks have it pretty bad. The stomatellas are great and breed very well in your tank! I started with two and about a year later I have well over 500 between my three tanks I think they’re the most amazing snail and if you can catch them spawning it really is incredible. Reefcleaners sells quite a few weird inverts! Here’s a sampling that I would choose for this tank but of course it’s completely up to you Also, I said limpet fossils but I actually meant chitons! Sorry!

 

[dennis romano]

If Mom is a botanist and you want to try to grow macroalgae, check out Gulf Coast Ecosystems. They have an extensive list of macroalgae that you can buy. If I remember, there are a few kinds that resemble bubble algae.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I agree with most of the posts here but I would go down the route of researching Macro Algae tanks. Bubble aglae is one of the dozens of nuisance algaes we combat so don't lose sight of the fact you are just adjusting tank conditions to grow something other than coral. Stick with RO, distilled or RODI water as tap water can easily lead to other algae issues. Popping the bubble algae can cause it to spread. Maybe think about incorporating other macro algae that look cool?

 

[TriggerFinger]

I think some people missed the part that OPs mom is a fan of bubble algae because it’s an “odd single cell organism” and single cell organisms are her thing. It doesn’t look like they are trying to set up a macro tank.

 

[40g Nano]

The op wants the bubble algae because it is a single celled organism, and they find that interesting

 

[sfin52]

Heck local reefers who have bubble algea would give it away.

 

[Anihiel1]

The hermit crabs wont pop the algae bubbles? I know emerald crabs are used to control bubble algae.

I'm not planning on any fish atm, but possibly some shrimp. My brother is really pushing for a baby horseshoe crab but I don't know if that is a good idea (My brother LOVES horseshoe crabs due to them being living fossils.) But I know they can be a bit high maintenance to hand feed and we would have to rehouse it into a bigger tank after a few molts, but that would be something to worry about in a year or two minimum. We also have a nearby aquarium that would take it if it got too big for us to handle.


I am also giving a serious look at Hawaiian super shrimp, but I have no idea if they would work.

DO NOT get a horshoe crab. Mine molted within weeks and has molted 5 times just in the past year. She is now the size of my hand and we had to upgrade to a 125g just so she'd have room.

 

[Trey]

I think some people missed the part that OPs mom is a fan of bubble algae because it’s an “odd single cell organism” and single cell organisms are her thing. It doesn’t look like they are trying to set up a macro tank.

Thank god someone said it. I was about lose my marbles reading all the replies smh

 

[lion king]

No peppermint shrimp, no emerald crabs, other than that you are open to many inverts. Just make sure there's enough micro algae for them to eat, so don't ovrrbstock is what I am saying.

Get your bubble algae rock, pop them and allow the spores to go all over tge tank, ir will immediately be out of control. Feed the tank with fish food to allow the beeak down to nitrate and phosphates which would feed the bubble algae. Hermits and nasarrius snails will eat the left ovrr food.

 

[McCarrick]

I love this thread. When you start putting the tank together I'd love to see an unusual build thread for this tank

 

[Dragonspainter]

Oh wow, thanks for all the replies!

After researching here are a few of the things I have decided on. I am going to buy RO water and mix my own saltwater that way instead of using tap (maybe get my own RO filter down the line). We actually tested our tap water about 10 years ago to see if it had contaminants and I believe everything came back negative but its better to be safe rather then sorry considering part of my house is over 140 years old and Utah has a ton of minerals in our water.

Right now the main goal is the bubble algae and Acetabularia algae, but I am sure my mom would love macroalgae as well. But because it is a present, aka she does not know I am doing this, I want to give her the choice of which macroalgae she wants to put in later after the big reveal. So basically I need the tank to be setup, low maintenance and have a stable ecosystem that she can customize more later after Christmas.

The reason I decided to post this in this thread VS the macroalgae thread is ultimately I had multiple questions that tied back to the fact I had never setup a saltwater tank before so this seemed more appropriate. And tbh I had no idea if Sailors eyeball counted as a macroalgae. I didn't really understand the difference until I did more research. But I hope to take footgal up on that offer to get some of their bubbles! Now I just need to find some Acetabularia. It seems to be out of stock everywhere. It also seems very hard to keep alive.


As for stocking I am definitely going to go with some snails but I am still decided which species. I think I will stay away from starfish for now unless I accidently get some on live rock. I DEFFINITALLY want a couple chitons those guys look heckin cool, but is there a reason people only sell the hairy ones? The lined ones look fantastic but I cant find a listing anywhere.
My brother is still pushing for that horseshoe crab, but I know people have a lot of mixed opinions on those. IF I where to get one I would prefer the Mangrove Horseshoe Crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) as its easier to house at its full size. But I can't seem to find anywhere that sells them? They are not protected but they just don't seem to be in the hobby. I might wait to put any kind of crab in the tank and let my mom pick one (including the horseshoe one). And finally Would Hawaiian super shrimp be alright in a filtered tank like this? I only ever see them in unfiltered tiny tanks.

And I will definitely do a build tread!

 

[HuduVudu]

So uh, yeah this is probably a pretty unusual question. How do you intentionally grow bubble algae?

For a bit of background my whole family are huge nerds. My mom is a botanist, my brother is a geologist (almost done with his degree,) and I am a 3d artist.

While rockhounding about a month ago we found these fossilized single celled organisms (i can't remember which ones right now) They basically look like a grain of rice but my mom was super excited about it and showed it off to everyone. It reminded me of when she was studying biology she had a pet slime mold as a project and was quite enamored with it. Basically my mom loves weird single celled organisms.

A few weeks later my brother sent me a photo of this funky looking huge single celled algae called Valonia ventricosa. It's also known as “sailor's eyeball”, or as you guys probably know it, bubble algae.

I joked we should get some as a Christmas present to my mom. And then we realized that we actually should get some as a Christmas present to my mom.

When I first started looking into it I thought it was some kind of super rare specialty algae and you had to order a culture from a lab, but then I found out that it's actually considered a nuisance algae. So I tried looking up ways to grow it intentionally, but all I could really find is people wanting to get rid of it.... So my question is; How to grow bubble algae!

The current plan is to set up a small/nano saltwater tank for my mom that focused on growing Sailor's eyeball and Acetabularia algae (another large single celled algae.) with maybe a few simple invertebrates. The idea is the tank is supposed to be low maintenance. The tank I am looking at right now is the 13.5 gallon Fluval Sea Evo.

A few other helpful things I would like to get advice on; Would I need a protein skimmer with this tank? Some people say yes, others say no.
What kind of little critters can I put in that are bubble algae safe? Are there any critters that will eat other algae but leave the two I want to grow alone? Do you think I would even have to worry about other algae? And finally, would anyone perchance be able to send me a hunk of rock with it already growing on it?

My mom has had a freshwater tank for about 20 years and keeps mini ecosystems in pickle jars, and I know quite a bit about freshwater aquariums and have set up a few planted tanks for other people. But neither of us have ever done saltwater so any tips or recommendations would be great!

You do realize that since you are trying to grow it, you will never be able to.

 

[Dragonspainter]

You do realize that since you are trying to grow it, you will never be able to.

Thats what I am worried about XD

 

[ReefdUp]

Did this super-awesome present ever come to fruition? Pics??

 

[sharkyahd]

That fluval tank will be a great setup for what you're trying to do, its nice to have a closed system like that, just need regular filtration. If you plan on investing in a light I would learn more towards refugium style lights like the Kessil H80 Tuna, and as for obtaining the algae of choice, I'm sure there are fish stores with it in a tank that they would love to get off their hands. Good luck with this adventure I hope you update us all with a build thread!