Buying live rock with green bubble algae on it

[launch]

I'm trying to help out a friend of mine who lost his job by buying some live rock from him (out of his 220g reef tank). I bought a couple pieces and I was going to buy some more but last night i saw a little bit of bubble algae on one, so i scraped it off and put it in my tank. I was going to put the other piece in but it was loaded with green bubble algae (it's really nice fiji rock so there are tons of nooks and crannies and holes in it so scraping all of it off will be impossible) i do have some emerald crabs so i hope any small amounts will be eaten but i would definatly like to avoid a breakout. how do i get it off?

also, is the bubble algae dangerous or anything like that?

Thanks.

 

[melosu58]

Not really dangerous just unsightly. Read this

'Bubble' Alage: Selected Descriptions, Controls and Comments by Horge Cortes-Jorge, Jr. - Reefkeeping.com

 

[pat8you]

You can pull it off with a pair of tweezers. Try to get as much off as you can. It is a serious pain to get rid of. I had a heck of a time in my tank and it took months.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Unless you really need the rock, I'd just give the friend the money and let him keep the rock! Bubble algae is something you don't intentionally want to put in your tank. It's not dangerous, and a lot of my friends think it looks cool, but it's a pain to get rid of once you give it a foothold.

 

[fishcrack]

Personally, I wouldn't knowingly put live rock in my tank with bubble algae. If you keep corals, it can kill off polyps and multiples like crazy. You could dry the rock out and culture it all over again.