Red Bubble Algae Removal

[jaybird101]

I have read all kinds of threads about removing Red Bubble Algae.
I want to know what the best way is to keep it under control.
I had some on a couple of peices of LR. I Removed the LR peices, scrubed them, Boiled them and set them out in the sun to completely dry out before reintroducing them to the tank. This was easy because they were on small rocks.
But I'm sure there is some on the larger rocks that I can't see.
So my question to all is, What can I buy to put in the tank that will keep RED BUBBLE ALGAE under control?
I've read Emerald Crabs (But some say they won't eat the red bubble).
I've read Foxface.
What is the best thing to have in the tank for Red Bubble Algae removal?

 

[uberlink]

Originally Posted by jaybird101
I have read all kinds of threads about removing Red Bubble Algae.
I want to know what the best way is to keep it under control.
I had some on a couple of peices of LR. I Removed the LR peices, scrubed them, Boiled them and set them out in the sun to completely dry out before reintroducing them to the tank. This was easy because they were on small rocks.
But I'm sure there is some on the larger rocks that I can't see.
So my question to all is, What can I buy to put in the tank that will keep RED BUBBLE ALGAE under control?
I've read Emerald Crabs (But some say they won't eat the red bubble).
I've read Foxface.
What is the best thing to have in the tank for Red Bubble Algae removal?

You shouldn't have boiled or dried your live rock. It's now dead rock, which is unfortunate as that was unnecessary and in all likelihood counterproductive.
Don't put any chemicals in to control the algae. The algae is most likely caused by something you are putting into the tank, such as (a) tap water, (b) too much food, and/or (c) too much lighting. Start using only RO/DI water, feed less (i.e. every other day or so), and reduce your lighting schedule.
By the way, is this a fairly new tank? If so, the red algae (which is actually not algae, but most likely cyanobacteria) is a fairly common part of starting a newer tank.
Best of luck with it!

 

[ooooooohhpeter]

what is your turn over rate meaning gph / gallons of ur tank ie :
if i have a 10 gallong tank and i have
a hob filter rated 200 gallongs per hour
means that i have 20x turnover rate
try shooting for 20-30 turn over rate. i had the same problem in my 28 gallon tank and my turnover rate was only 15x. so i bought a higher rated gph and now i have close to 25x and cyano is all gone. with cyano i tihnk water movement is the key. but what do i know im a noob. maybe someone will come in and skool me

 

[jaybird101]

Originally Posted by uberlink
You shouldn't have boiled or dried your live rock. It's now dead rock, which is unfortunate as that was unnecessary and in all likelihood counterproductive.
Yes now I have Base rock. But now I know there is no red bubble on there either.
Don't put any chemicals in to control the algae. The algae is most likely caused by something you are putting into the tank, such as (a) tap water, (b) too much food, and/or (c) too much lighting. Start using only RO/DI water, feed less (i.e. every other day or so), and reduce your lighting schedule.
I use RO/DI water. And you say feed every other day. Isn't this going to starve the fish??
I don't want to add chemicals. I want to add living creatures, thats why I asked for suggestions on what kind.
By the way, is this a fairly new tank? If so, the red algae (which is actually not algae, but most likely cyanobacteria) is a fairly common part of starting a newer tank.
Best of luck with it!
I first noticed the red bubble algae in my 1 1/2 year old tank. But I recently upgraded to a larger tank and noticed more of it when I was transplanting the rocks over. I got on here and seen other post of red bubble and it matched their pictures. So unless they were wrong, it must be red bubble algae.

 

[jaybird101]

Originally Posted by ooooooohhpeter
what is your turn over rate meaning gph / gallons of ur tank ie :
I have a 75 gal RR. I have a mag 9.5 in the sump and estimate with head pressure and ball valve cut back to be pumping aprox 650 gals/hour.(If I don't cut it back with a ball valve, it creats to many micro bubble in the sump which make it to the display even with 6 baffles.) I also have a 150 gals/hour power head in the tank. So thats equals about 800 gal/hour, which equals 10.6x turn over. I plan on adding more power heads in the future.
if i have a 10 gallong tank and i have
a hob filter rated 200 gallongs per hour
means that i have 20x turnover rate
try shooting for 20-30 turn over rate. i had the same problem in my 28 gallon tank and my turnover rate was only 15x. so i bought a higher rated gph and now i have close to 25x and cyano is all gone. with cyano i tihnk water movement is the key. but what do i know im a noob. maybe someone will come in and skool me

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by jaybird101
I have a 75 gal RR. I have a mag 9.5 in the sump and estimate with head pressure and ball valve cut back to be pumping aprox 650 gals/hour.(If I don't cut it back with a ball valve, it creats to many micro bubble in the sump which make it to the display even with 6 baffles.) I also have a 150 gals/hour power head in the tank. So thats equals about 800 gal/hour, which equals 10.6x turn over. I plan on adding more power heads in the future.
Hate to break up yout thread but I have a question about the above. Do ball valves create microbubbles? I'm having similar problems with my mag7 in a10g sump. I have baffles but when the valve is open all the way the water travels too fast in my sump and bubbles too. If I choke it a little it gets a lot better but still some bubbles. Thanks
10x turnover really isn't enough. Try to get it above 15 and make sure that there is flow over your sand.

 

[earlybird]

Oh yeah. Is it Botryocladia pseudodichotoma or cyanobacteria? If it is Botryocladia (sea grapes) it is considered a good algae I think. There is no way to completely rid your system of cyanobacteria. It exists in almost any environment imaginable. It's all about controlling/preventing the blooms.

 

[uberlink]

Originally Posted by jaybird101
I use RO/DI water. And you say feed every other day. Isn't this going to starve the fish??
I don't want to add chemicals. I want to add living creatures, thats why I asked for suggestions on what kind.
It will not starve your fish. In the wild they eat far less often than we tend to feed them. Alternatively, you could just try to feed about half as much each time. That will often help a lot with the outbreaks.
Originally Posted by jaybird101
I first noticed the red bubble algae in my 1 1/2 year old tank. But I recently upgraded to a larger tank and noticed more of it when I was transplanting the rocks over. I got on here and seen other post of red bubble and it matched their pictures. So unless they were wrong, it must be red bubble algae.
Maybe it is red bubble algae; I guess that's something I haven't experienced. Cyano is very common, and it often looks like red bubbles on the rocks. With cyano you'll also see bits of redish slime that will coat various parts of the tank or float on the surface of the water. Are you seeing that?
Whether it's cyano or algae, the key is to reduce what it feeds on, i.e. nutrients and phostphates in the water (glad to hear you're using RO/DI...that should help) and light. Reducing feeding and lighting (e.g. dropping an hour or two off your lighting schedule) can help a lot.
One thing that can also help in the long term is to plant macroalgae somewhere in your system. Do you run a refugium? If not, then you could consider adding one. Even a simple H.O.T. filter with a small light and a handful of chaetomorpha macroalgae can do wonders for extracting nutrients from your water.

 

[jaybird101]

OK here is a picture of what it looked like before I removed the rocks.
This is not my picture, but exactly what I had.
This person said it was red bubble algae.
Is this not Red Bubble Algae???
Yes I have a sump/refug with macro algae in it.
But my Main QUESTION is not being answerd.
What fish or crab will eat red bubble algae???

 

[darthgoby]

There is little evidence that anything will eat bubble algae. Emerald crabs are often said to eat. When I got an outbreak, I got 4 emerald crabs to help control it in my aquarium.
Guess what...
Mine eat everything but bubble algae. I swear that one of them has some of it growing on his legs.

 

[uberlink]

I've not seen that before. I don't think it's cyano, so I apologize for misleading you before. What you've got is actually kinda cool looking.
If it's like green bubble algae, then an emerald crab might eat it. I have emerald crabs in both of my tanks, and they seem to keep it under control. They're also very cool little crabs--a nice addition to a tank, in my opinion.
Strange that you've got so much growth despite the sump with macroalgae.

 

[xokarmaxo]

Actually, the picture that he posted was from my tank.

I still have the red bubble algae and it seems like coraline is starting to cover it. I decided not to break down my tank and start over, to get rid of it until I started to actually see some harm being done because I sent an e-mail to Bob Fenner and I checked out the various questions and answers on wet web media regarding red bubble algae, and I'm choosing, at this point, to "wait and see" if anything harmful will come out of it just being in there, because not all of them can agree that it is actually something "bad". Some of them answered that it is "desirable" to have, some say it's a nuisance, some say leave it alone, some say get rid of it... I am extremely anal and obsessive about checking my parameters and check them twice a day.... when I come into work in the morning and then before I leave work in the evening, so hopefully, if any harm is being done, I can catch it before it gets worse.
As far as what eats it, I've been told emerald crabs, but not sure if it eats RED bubble algae. I've also been told that a foxface will eat it.... sooo.... not sure what to tell you.

 

[jaybird101]

Like I said in my last post, This is not my picture, but exactly what I have.
I left the LR alone with the Red Bubble on it while it was in my old tank.
I though it looked cool and resembled a type of coral. But I knew I was going to get another tank.
When I transplanted all my LR to the new tank, I noticed a lot more of it.
So this concernd me and I started researching. I found your tread xokarmaxo.
It was exactly what I had. But I don't want to take the chance of the Red Bubble Algae taking over my new tank. So I want to remove all and control any new.
Every body suggested to you the remove and clean the LR. I was lucky that only 5 small peices of LR had the red bubble on it. It was easy to remove, scrub, boil, and dry out, and return it to base rock to elimanate all red bubble from it.
I read about the emeral crab and the foxface, but some people stated the opposite results. So I wanted more responces to others experiences to this problem.
I plan on buying a few Emeral crabs to add to my cleanup crew, But I'm concerned with the Foxface getting along with other fish in the tank. I don't want to spend money on a fish that keeps me from having other beautiful fish.

 

[xokarmaxo]

Originally Posted by jaybird101
I left the LR alone with the Red Bubble on it while it was in my old tank..
When you left it alone in your old tank, did it spread more or just stay confined to where it was? When you moved all of your LR to your new tank, you said that you noticed a lot more of it... does that mean that you noticed that a lot more was already on the rocks than you realized, or that you noticed that it was spreading a lot more?
Originally Posted by jaybird101
It was easy to remove, scrub, boil, and dry out, and return it to base rock to elimanate all red bubble from it.
When you returned it back to your tank as base rock, along with the LR that was already in your tank, did it cause your tank to go through a mini cycle again? Also.... when you returned the base rock to your tank, did the red bubble algae ever grow back? What I've been told is that the spores are already in the tank, so it wouldn't matter if I scrubbed it all off or not... with the spores being in the water, it would come right back.

 

[reefreak29]

with your tank size and fish i personally would get a foxface

 

[jaybird101]

Bump

 

[xokarmaxo]

Well, I don't know what happened to my red bubble algae, but when I went into my office today, they had lost just about all of their color and were looking almost clear. They are a very light pink/clear color now and some look deflated. Not sure what this means or how it got like that, but it is definately A LOT less noticeable now!