Tired of Bubble Algae... no live rock in the display?

[phi delt reefer]

SO i've just about had it with bubble algae. My tank is too small for tangs and manual removal is getting old really quick. Its starting to grow deep in crevices that my siphon cant access and the smaller bubbles are impossible to pop unless i use a screwdriver.

I remember a while back being introduced to an SPS tank that used nothing but sintered glass media for bio filtration - (thanks Bill@IA).

The SPS was mounted to fake rocks. The bio media was kept in a sump where it was "shaken" or blown off once a month to keep the surface clean. The key was to have the media in before the skimmer so the bacteria within the media would have to break down nitrates in the water to get their oxygen fix.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1920386&page=19

before I let my tank go, BLOB brought me some ceramic cubes he seeded in his tank add to mine to increase the bio filtration. The cubes had more surface area than all the rock in my system. I'm thinking of adding some of the sintered glass media and removing the rocks from the display (one a week) until there is nothing in there. I'll throw them in the sump and hopefully the light free environment will starve the bubble algae. OR i'll just pull the rocks out all together and let them dry out and sell em off.



OPTION 2

just place all the live rock in a bucket that that is plumbed to my tank. Dietrus free water would flow into the bucket and back into the sump but no light would reach the rocks with the bucket. Run the system like this for a few months until all the algae dies off then reintroduce the rocks.



concerns....

1. fish wont have a place to hide for some time... I know my wrasse and my hogfish like to sleep within the rock work... The other guys sleep out in the open so i'm not too concerned.


2. ???



any thoughts? Currently i run carbon and gfo and vinegar dose. I'll switch to biopellets once i can get a re-circulating reactor for them.

I'm not against having rock - But i think i need to remove it all for a bit and deal with the infestation without compromising the system.

 

[Poseidon]

i think the rock in the seperate bucket would work best, you shouldnt get any form of cycle because you just put it somewhere else in the same system,
as for the hiding places, get a couple pieces of dry marco rock, use that instead.

 

[Neopimp]

Bottle of bleach in the sump.... Fix it right up

 

[Neopimp]

On topic... I have alot if that eheim looking media

 

[Duke]

try an army of emeralds.. i dont think you want to do anything too drastic..

 

[phi delt reefer]

i think the rock in the seperate bucket would work best, you shouldnt get any form of cycle because you just put it somewhere else in the same system,
as for the hiding places, get a couple pieces of dry marco rock, use that instead.

all the rock in my tank was Marco rock.. algae came into my tank from frags. I'm going to chop off the bases on frags from now on.

 

[phi delt reefer]

try an army of emeralds.. i dont think you want to do anything too drastic..

i've got one in my tank - never seen the B@stard eat bubble algae in his life. His claws are way to big to get into some of these micro crevices in the rock.

I'm hoping that if i seed the new media the removal of the live rock wont be an issue... but you never know right?

 

[Neopimp]

Pretty sure I got it from you on those blastos I got a while back

 

[Duke]

i doubt the bucket thing is going to work.. the algae is in the tank still.. sure its going to die off and not grow on your rocks.. but its going to still be there, probably will grow in the tank.. and once you move it back over.. it will probably come right back..

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

My emerald wont touch it..it eats food offthe sand

 

[phi delt reefer]

i doubt the bucket thing is going to work.. the algae is in the tank still.. sure its going to die off and not grow on your rocks.. but its going to still be there, probably will grow in the tank.. and once you move it back over.. it will probably come right back..

I guess this is my fear.  3 months of bucketing and only to have it come back?!!?! I'll loose my shit and probably murder a clownfish in my rage. Everyone online just says you gotta live with it but its like the plague... It'll take over my tank I'm sure of it.

Do you think running UV during that time would kill the spores in the water column? OR do you think the bubble algae will just go dormant in the bucket regardless of the non-light period?


Neo - i gave you red bugs, bubble algae, zoa spiders, the plague and a sprinklin' of AIDs.  Your welcome . I figured with all the stuff you bought you deserved something for free .

 

[Salty Cracker]

Didn't you let your tank go sour lately?  Sorry if not, that's what I heard... If so I would suggest getting back on track, I mean we all get a little valonia from time to time, but good water specs keep it in line.  Of course, yeah a tang helps too.  My sailfin gets real excited when a new frag comes in, he loves some of morsels on the frag plugs

I honestly thought the 'sintered glass media' went out in the 90's and was a nitrate trap (??).  Isn't that the stuff that was in fluval canister filters?

 

[phi delt reefer]

yeah i let it go for half of 2012 so everything went to shit - 5 fish died and no water changes meant the water quality went to shit!

Since december i have;

done probably ten water changes
scrubbed all the bubble algae i could off the rocks
added chemi pure elite (didnt have the bulk stuff lying around)
tore down and cleaned out my skimmer and got it running like new
added 100 micron filter socks that get swapped out twice a week.
re-arranged the rocks so i have a more open scape and better flow everywhere
tore down and cleaned out the return pump to increase the flow and system turn over
removed three huge rocks that were so bubble algae infested it didnt make sense to keep them


I'm in the middle of a dino bloom (brown snot) so i'm running just actinics for now and skimming wet to pull more nutrients from the water.

 

[Neopimp]

..... I still cry at night

 

[Salty Cracker]

yeah i let it go for half of 2012 so everything went to shit - 5 fish died and no water changes meant the water quality went to shit!

Since december i have;

done probably ten water changes
scrubbed all the bubble algae i could off the rocks
added chemi pure elite (didnt have the bulk stuff lying around)
tore down and cleaned out my skimmer and got it running like new
added 100 micron filter socks that get swapped out twice a week.
re-arranged the rocks so i have a more open scape and better flow everywhere
tore down and cleaned out the return pump to increase the flow and system turn over
removed three huge rocks that were so bubble algae infested it didnt make sense to keep them


I'm in the middle of a dino bloom (brown snot) so i'm running just actinics for now and skimming wet to pull more nutrients from the water.

Yeah when I had my valonia bloom it was during my neglect time, I 'fixed' the tank and now i would honestly probably take an hour trying to find even one bubble (although I guess I do get a few on the iside of the overflow).

I'm definitely not a fan of chemi pure, it's a 'quick fix' that changes water parameters too quickly.  Just like removing the 'bad' rock, it upsets the tank like crazy, probably  the reason for the dinos....

I remember that darren guy looking at my tank and saying "yep, throw everything out, let me get you all new rock, you'll never get this tank back in shape".  Glad I didn't listen to him. 

I would say get some BRS gfo on there (or rowa if you have to buy from BILL@IA!), maybe some carbon and start up a pellet reactor.  I mean, the tank sounds rough, might as well get it all going now.  Keep up the water changes and ditch all the quick fix stuff.  Hell, you know all this.  Bubble algae will disappear along with all the other bad stuff.  I mean, you didn't leave it too long, but that long without water changes... That will take a bit of work. 

Maybe get a small tang and sell it when it gets too big?  Definitely help while you get the tank back up to snuff. 

 

[Kleko]

The emralds I had ate some of my zoas.

 

[phi delt reefer]

Yeah the chemi pure is just carbon and gfo in a mesh bag so its the same just not as effective cause waters not forced through it.

Tanks not a write off by any means and the bubble algae is just starting to come back so I'm trying to be proactive.

I'm sure tangs are keeping the BA in your tank outta sight but its probably growing in places you can't easily see or they can't reach.

I'm hoping to eliminate it 100%. Is it possible? Probably with a lot of work and attacking it from multiple angles.

I'm thinking the dinos are from removing the rock or all the extra new sand I added in December. I'm thinking the gfo in the chemipure is exhausted (it had a lot of work to do after all) so the dinos are rearing there ugly head!

 

[Salty Cracker]

Chemi pure isn't the white stuff? 

I've actually removed probably half the liverock in the system over the past few months, there's no valonia in there at all.  However I found a sponge the size of an orange. 

Starve the algae, it'll die.  I have gone the ultra low nutrient route, however...corals (specially lps) like nutrients.  It's a really fine line, keeping them fed and happy, but all the nasty stuff away. 

Dinos are a real pain.  No matter what. 

 

[Neopimp]

Good luck , you will never win with bubbles once its in.  Best you can do is control it with crabs and fish. Remove it manually

 

[phi delt reefer]

Chemi pure isn't the white stuff? 

I've actually removed probably half the liverock in the system over the past few months, there's no valonia in there at all.  However I found a sponge the size of an orange. 

Starve the algae, it'll die.  I have gone the ultra low nutrient route, however...corals (specially lps) like nutrients.  It's a really fine line, keeping them fed and happy, but all the nasty stuff away. 

Dinos are a real pain.  No matter what. 

Good luck , you will never win with bubbles once its in.  Best you can do is control it with crabs and fish. Remove it manually

Yeah everything I read says bubble algae can survive in low light low nutrient tanks so that's where the bucket idea came from. No light would hopefully kill it right off. It would still be plumbed into the system so I the rock would remain alive