How long does bubble algae take to grow?

[gmann1139]

I had a single 'bubble' in my 12 gal that I had been monitoring for a good month and a half now. It had behaved until 2 weeks ago, when I noticed it began to grow.
I searched this site for 'removal' methods, and was going to remove the rock this weekend and pluck the bubble this weekend when I did some other maintenance.
However, yesterday I noticed the bubble looked slightly deflated, and on closer inspection, realized it had actually popped. Today it looks like a balloon two weeks after the party, mostly deflated and sad.
I know Emerald Crabs are the preferred/only eater of Bubble Algae. A LFS has a couple, which is rare, and I'm wondering if I should pick one up for that tank temporarily to aid in the problem which is now brewing.
My questions/concerns are:
1. Per title, how soon until I should expect a whole mess of little green bubbles?
2. Is the Emerald a threat to my ~1" Ocel Clowns? How about hermits?
3. Is a 29 gallon going to big enough for the crab, or should I just return him to the LFS when he's done?

 

[reef_dart21]

well i have about 3 blue legged hermit crabs and did have a bubble algea problem but if you do not tamber with em and just give it some time the hermit crabs do their work. I would personally not touch any more popping up and just let the crabs do their work, they may be slow but rather then be slow and do their job than fast and do nothing.

 

[fringehead]

I started with two emeralds and half a dozen hermits in my 12 gallon nano. I now have one VERY large emerald and everything else appears to have skipped town. So much for the "vegetarian" emerald crabs...

 

[gmann1139]

Who told you they were vegans?
Everywhere I've read has said omnivore, so I'd already prepped for the loss of my cleanup crew. That's why I'm also worried about my clowns.
I'm taking a 'wait and see' attitude. I'm modding this tank to add chaeto in the back today, so we'll see if that can stem the possible typhoon of bubble algae that may hit me.
Back to my original question of if the bubble burst Wednesday, how long until I see its many children?

 

[nygel]

bubble algae? hmmm... well, one bubble took 6 months to turn the size of a quarter for me... and three weeks ago i just yanked the whole group off... that was my removal method..... algae never spreads in my tank though, so maybe its just my tank.

 

[paintballer768]

I had 1 bubble a while ago, and I got curious 1 day and just touched it and it rolled off the rock, and I just physically removed it with no popage. Emeralds might bully the clowns, but make sure you get the smallest one you can. 1 will be enough.

 

[t316]

I'm just now learning about these things. I saw one 5 days ago and thought it was cute, so left it alone. Saw a second yesterday. And a third today. Looked it up and realized this might not be good, so today, I barely touched the first one and it floated off the rock, caught it with a net and sent it to the septic tank gods. Second one didn't come off so easy and bursted. I stopped there.
So are you saying that this burst will cause "spores" to go all over my tank and propagate even more of these things? They are kind of nice looking, but not if it turns into a green monster.

 

[gmann1139]

Well, one bubble had turned into 6, 4 of which were the size of a pea, so I finally went for it today.
I bought an emerald last week to see if it'd help (I'd seen about 1/3 success on this board). He's completely useless, and one swipe at another inhabitant away from living up to his name of "Cakes."

I removed each piece of LR individually (I have 3 in my 12, 2 are maybe a couple pounds, and the big piece is 10 lbs), and picked each bubble off.
THe first couple came easily, they weren't latched on. The last four, which were paired up in 2 pairs on the big piece of LR, were attached, and at least two popped.

Luckily they popped in the sink where I was performing the surgery with a plastic fork and knife, and they were bathed in SW afterwards.
We'll see.