red bubble algae

[karajay]

I inherited a small amount of this stuff on a rock I bought (didn't know any better at the time). Of course now it has taken over most of the tank. My husband thinks it looks cool. I don't necessarily mind it, but I would rather look at coralline.
Anybody been successful at getting rid of this stuff without too much disruption? I would like to avoid removing everything to clean it off.
Ideas anybody?

 

[saltydog]

Does a fox face munch on Green bubble as well??
-Salty

 

[nicky1.8t]

emralds crabs did the job for me and my hippo tang ate alot of it but there is no room for a tang in your tank

 

[jrpage]

Hey Kara!
I got the green stuff:nope:
Anyways, I read a thread on here the other day that suggested an emerald crab. They said to throw in a couple of the bubbles while acclimating it. It just so happens that I'm acclimating as we speak and so far the bugger has eaten five little bubbles of algae. I therefore have high hopes that this is going to be a great relationship :yes:
I don't have a bad outbreak and so I didn't think to ask if you could house more than one. But I really am happy with the person who suggested this little critter and the trick for getting him to munch the bubble junk
Let me know how it goes!
Rhonda

 

[karajay]

I've heard they eat the green stuff. Anybody know if they eat the red stuff? If they do, it will have a feast.
I get the feeling I'm going to have to learn to love it.

 

[thankgod4fish]

Karajay, I remember you mentioning you had that stuff when I posted about the same problem a while ago (the pic below look familiar?).
At the time, what I did was just remove the one rock it was on... I put it in a bucket of it's own water with a heater and powerhead and covered it with the lid slightly raised so air can get in... sure enough, it all but seemed to dissappear in about a week or so...
so I put it back in.. and as you might guess, the crap grew back... and worse than before...
At the time, all I had were a few blue-leg hermits... I just bought my first emerald crab a few weeks ago, and the stuff is gone.
A number of posts I've read have indicated the emeralds are only interested in the green...
Albeit, it definitely loves the green stuff (I had a few bubbles of that in there as well) mine does settle for the red stuff.. and that's good enough for me!
Try the emerald... if it fails, it would've only cost you a few bucks anyway.

 

[karajay]

I went back and looked at that thread. Too bad I didn't take that rock out then (may have been too late anyway).
I'll have to think about the emerald. They ain't exactly the cutest things I've seen.
Did you happen to notice that the last post suggested using Maracyn?
Can you put Maracyn in a tank without killing your beneficial bacteria? I would tend to think it's not a good idea.

 

[thankgod4fish]

Originally posted by karajay
I went back and looked at that thread. Too bad I didn't take that rock out then (may have been too late anyway).
I'll have to think about the emerald. They ain't exactly the cutest things I've seen.
Did you happen to notice that the last post suggested using Maracyn?
Can you put Maracyn in a tank without killing your beneficial bacteria? I would tend to think it's not a good idea.
You know what? Honestly I've never heard of it... I know you've probably read it a million times before, but I'm leary of putting any chemicals in my tank...
You should just try the emerald anyway (you'd think I was getting paid for plugging them). Mine is pretty nocturnal (though I'm not sure if they all are by nature) and is hardly ever out during the day... and ugly as they may seem to some at first, they're really neat little things to watch.