Emerald crabs & bubble algae

[MsBeanCtr]

A silly question I'm sure but I was wondering if anyone has used emerald crabs to controll bubble algae?

I got a nice yellow scroll coral a few months back and I've been battling bubble algea ever since. I've tried scraping it off with pointed knives, screw driver blades and finger nails but the stinkin' things just keep coming back like mad.

I don't have this tank stocked with much of anything other than alot of corals, a massive crocea clam and a very, very small clown goby.

Do you think a couple of these crabs would make a dent?

 

[melosu58]

I`ve used them before. I really dont know if they can keep up with them though. Here is a great article on them.

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

 

[Brad.Sedore]

i had a very small amount of bubble algae... my emeralds knocked it out. but i caught it early enough that the bubbles didnt get too big for the crabs to eat... if the bubbles are too big the crabs may do more harm than good

-Brad

 

[MsBeanCtr]

Thank you Melosu for that great article. I'm thinking of moving one of my tuxedo urchins to the smaller tank to take care of the bubble algae.

 

[melosu58]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[divedeep1689]

back before i started on this site i took all my live rock out of the tank and put it in a smaller tank when i had my first out break and before i brought each piece back i popped all of the bublles and shook it clean the sprayed it down with fresh saltwater before going back to tank piece by piece it was very tedious lol i dont advise it lol

 

[roka64]

My emerald ate some huge ones. I've had one that ate them and another that didn't....

 

[MsBeanCtr]

My emerald ate some huge ones. I've had one that ate them and another that didn't....

Do you think I could do 2 of them in a small tank? (40 gallons) I don't know why but I hate to move my urchin to the other tank.....I guess I have some issues

 

[roka64]

I have 1 in my 55.