Reddish brown/green bubble algea (?) ALL OVER my tank!

[blcmounthood]

I believe I've won the fight against red algea, but this new enemy is pure evil. It's on the rock, the sand, the tubing.... it grows so fast that I can take a bunch of it out and a couple of days later it starts to come back. What eats this stuff? I've clean the rock before with a toothbrush and have resorted to using a razor blade to scrape the junk off the glass, but I'm losing the battle. Help!

TIA
Hoyt

 

[seaham358]

How old is the tank...... What type of water are you using..... What kind lights do you have. What are your water parameters. Kind of hard to help if we have no info...... Green bubble algae you say??? Do they look like a pea? Or is it algae that has air bubbles in it.

 

[blcmounthood]

Algea that has bubbles in it. Bubble algea.


Tank is a little over a year old. Been keeping saltwater in it for about 3 months. Well water to begin with, been changing water with R/O water. 1x96 watt, 30 gal L.

What else do you need to know? Algea is algea right? Come on already guys, how do you deal with bubble algea?

 

[nyghtone]

Hey man, I had this problem myself, my sollution was crabs, I got this crab with red legs and it eats it all. I don't know what kind of crab it is, but it was only like 4 bucks at a really crappy lfs that didn't even know what type of crab it was, haha. But yeah, at at your local lfs and they should know what kind of crabs eat that stuff, it looks yucky!!!

 

[saberry]

Algea that has bubbles in it. Bubble algea.


Tank is a little over a year old. Been keeping saltwater in it for about 3 months. Well water to begin with, been changing water with R/O water. 1x96 watt, 30 gal L.

What else do you need to know? Algea is algea right? Come on already guys, how do you deal with bubble algea?

What kind of filtration do you have? How long are your lights on each day, how often do you feed, and what's in your tank?

The typical advice, depending on how you answer the above questions, is to siphon off what you are able to, cut back on the amount of time your lights are on, reduce feedings, and make sure you are not adding excess nitrates with your filtration (example: bio-wheel, or canister.)

Also, remember at just 3 months, your tank is still getting established and algae bloom is still to be expected.

 

[saberry]

Hey man, I had this problem myself, my sollution was crabs, I got this crab with red legs and it eats it all. I don't know what kind of crab it is, but it was only like 4 bucks at a really crappy lfs that didn't even know what type of crab it was, haha. But yeah, at at your local lfs and they should know what kind of crabs eat that stuff, it looks yucky!!!

Appropriately enough, it is called the red leg hermit crab. You might also look for a emerald crab, but remember that adding crabs to eat the algae does not remove the cause.

 

[nyghtone]

Hey, sweet, thanks for the naming!!! I agree with the removing the cause, the algae has since quit growing in my tank, but I get a bubble or two now and again, haha.

 

[marcus russo]

Also when was the last time you changed your bulbs?
Old bulbs can cause new formations of algae.