Please help!! Green bubble algae (1 Viewer)

[SHAZELEY]

Ok fellow reefers. I'm starting to see green buble algae in only my refugium. Display tank still looks great. Should I be alarm about this??

 

[Diesel]

Yes you should.
Manual remove the bubble algae, try not to break the bubble.

 

[OceansX]

....Manual remove the bubble algae, try not to break the bubble.

+1 Something in your display tank may be eating or preventing the bubble algae from getting a hold onto the surfaces there. Unless you want bubble algae in your display, potentially in plague portions, you should remove it carefully from your refugium as Diesel suggested.

I would use my water change siphon and draw them out that way, or dislodge them from my rock and then siphon them out.

 

[Clownfish Chris]

I couldn't agree more. Get rid of it.

 

[SHAZELEY]

thank you guys so much. This is a great help for me. You guys on this site is very helpful and knowledgable

 

[malira]

If it takes hold like it did in my son's DT a foxface works wonders. Before I got the foxface I injected a lot of the bubbles with muriatic acid and siphoning.

Since I've gotten the one spot foxface I stopped using the acid.
I have started siphoning a lot of the algae but the foxface is really going after the algae. I will find bubbles stuck to the housing of the powerheads that the foxface has pulled loose. The tank is looking a lot better.

 

[Diesel]

I had a 40 breeder set up a while ago just to have a ton of BA on rocks and went after it with MA and it took some time but after three weeks it was gone.
I injected the bubble with a tiny squirt of MA in the bubble using a sharp syringe.
You will kill the seeds in the BA and you will kill the BA at the same time, it will turn white in less than 24 hrs and fish or bacteria will go after it.
All you do is slowly breaking the cycle of BA.

 

[malira]

I had a 40 breeder set up a while ago just to have a ton of BA on rocks and went after it with MA and it took some time but after three weeks it was gone.
I injected the bubble with a tiny squirt of MA in the bubble using a sharp syringe.
You will kill the seeds in the BA and you will kill the BA at the same time, it will turn white in less than 24 hrs and fish or bacteria will go after it.
All you do is slowly breaking the cycle of BA.

So I can still do it with my foxface in there. That's good to know.

 

[Diesel]

So I can still do it with my foxface in there. That's good to know.

Yes you can, just watch your PH as the MA can't bring it down a bit.

 

[trb]

Good info guys. I had a lot on my old rocks, and ended up removing them from the tank. Luckily they never got into the second tank below my main one. Now I've had a few spots on my new rocks that I just pulled out of the water and manually removed the part of the rock with the bubbles. So far, pretty much under control, but I still have a few more to remove. I'll try the MA trick too.

Thanks!

 

[Reefahholic]

Don't break the bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[malira]

Don't break the bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I agree with that statement but only if you don't have a foxface that devours it. Maybe I got lucky with the type of bubble algae I have but I don't worry about popping it. I get ride of the big bubbles and the foxface eats the small ones that are coming up. The foxface's mouth is too small to get the big bubbles.

 

[reefling]

I read in a book this algae does not grow in the cooler temps. I noticed it only when my tank was above 80 degrees. try 76-78 degrees and you will likely see it disappear. It was in some book I read when I got into the hobby. It worked for me when I had it.

 

[bpb]

A tb syringe for the big bubbles with some MA does sound like a great idea.

Ill echo one thing and disagree with another.

Foxfaces will eat bubble algae like a kid eating candy. They love it. Emerald crabs are hit/miss, and No altering of water quality will help you. I have bundles of bubble algae growing on my heater wire outside of the water, in open air. If they can survive and proliferate in the air, they'll grow in clean water.

Secondly...while you should AVOID popping them unnecessarily, it's better to pop them prematurely than leave them to mature and release the maximum amount of viable spores they can once they're ready. Manual removal is ideal, but something that eats them is best. If there's one algae that is NOT indicative of a water quality problem, it's bubble algae. My outbreak was at its worst when I was running biopellets, gfo, and carbon heavily for a while.


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[FarmerTy]

I've oddly never had a bubble algae outbreak. I even had a bubble or two in my sump for 5 years.

Then I removed all fish and I had an outbreak. Same setup for tank maintenance, I didn't change a thing.

I put the fish back in and poof, all started dying off again. Go figure. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions.

 

[below radar]

I've oddly never had a bubble algae outbreak. I even had a bubble or two in my sump for 5 years.

Then I removed all fish and I had an outbreak. Same setup for tank maintenance, I didn't change a thing.

I put the fish back in and poof, all started dying off again. Go figure. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions.

Reef magic

 

[FarmerTy]

Saltwater unicorns?

 

[SHAZELEY]

hey guys, I'm so glad you all are still giving me options on what to do because I'm still fighting this bubble algae. I have manually removed it on a 2-3 day cycle but it keeps returning. Luckily it has not entered my DT yet. I am constantly monitoring it though. Oh and it is almost impossible to remove without breaking the bubbles. Please continue to chime in with your experiences so I can continue to learn how to eliminate this problem. thanks a lot.

 

[Nickig23]

I had a bad outbreak over about a years time. Got emerald crabs, they didn't touch it and ate on my sps instead. Got a fox face, didn't touch it, ate on my lps instead. I got rid of both those devils. Just got worse and worse. Gave a rock full of it to another member, his tangs cleaned it completely. I bought a tang from him, ate none of it in my tank.

Then I had a briopsis outbreak, got really really bad, and nothing was killing it or eating it. So I had enough, took a syringe and squirted the briopsis with pure peroxide. It died along with all the bubble algea. My corals weren't happy but they all came back. Eventually I took most of my rocks out and soaked them one by one in 50/50 peroxide & saltwater. And both algae are pretty much gone. I have a few rocks left to dip that have just a tiny about of briopsis on them.

Good luck!!


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