I have green and red bubble algae...what do I do to make it go away!!!

[Kodadad]

Okay, as some of you know I was away for a month and my wife was watching the tank.

Now honestly, she did an amazing job. All of my levels are perfect. Phosphate and Nitrate are 0

Now that said....my skimmer is still not pulling a lot out of my tank. Maybe getting a 1/4 full /week-2 week. (Remora Pro Skimmer)

I don't have a ton of either but it is there and it is spreading. I might have 8-10 red bubbles, and maybe 6 green bubbles.

So what do I do?

Tonight the skimmer and all powerheads were cleaned and a 30% water change was done.

I know both red and green bubble algae can get crazy out of control....and I really want to stop that from happening.

Advice?

[alamo]

8 to 10?...take them out.

[Kodadad]

I cleaned a couple off of my powerhead tonight while cleaning them...(outside of the tank) but the immediately burst.

Is there an easy way to remove them?

[cmur]

you should get some emerald crabs. they are one of the only crabs know to eat bubble algae and do a good job at it.

[Blu]

I have a red emerald crab, and I have only seen red bubbles on one of my powerheads. Not to mention I have about 44 turnover flow. More flow will always help algae buildup. But keep in mind I think it's 1 emerald crab per 30gal as a rule. I have had 2 and they both died come to find out later that I couldn't have that many. The oen I have now is going strong so far.

Also, In my opinion that is not to many bubbles, I have had a rock covered. It's when they are out of control it is a bad thing. But taking them out is a good way to avoid this as long as they arn't have pores. that's when you have to be careful removing them.

[Daviduk]

I had an outbreak that got out of hand earlier in the year and looked into emerald crabs.
See http://arrg.ca/showthread.php?tid=6848 in short I decided against them, people have had mixed results with them and red bubble though they seem to have no issues eating green. In the end I got a yellow tang and it completely removed the red bubble from my display tank. I still have issues with it in my sump and frag tank(which is also plumbed into the display). But it's easy enough to remove by hand from there.

[fishnet]

I've removed mine by scrubbing with a tooth brush, while holding a gravel syphon over the area. That was the end of them.

[Kodadad]

that seems like the way to do it

[Kodadad]

Here are a few pics of the red bubble....

[Kodadad]

Well after some work..I removed all of the bubble algae except for one large red bubble that I just cannot reach without a full tear down.. (grumble)

Now its just wait and see......will it come back..... hope not.

[Kodadad]

Well I have done manual removal of almost all of the green and red bubble algae.

But I still have 2 spots of this.... what is this called exactly.

[boboxx]

lower your nutrience it's the only way to get rid of it!

[Kodadad]

Best way to do that?

Tests are showing good..... guess it is being consumed...

[kat]

valona

[Blu]

Feed once every 2 days, or sparligly everyday. The nutrients might look low but you got to remember that the algae feeds on thiese nutrients. More water changes will help. And I still swear on the emerald crab. Mines done it's job. I only have bubble on my power heads rifht now. And wel the crab can't get there.