bubble algae

[wbrown]

I appear to be having an outbreak in one of my tanks. Not sure which frag I bought came with it, but the only additions in 7-8 weeks have been frags.
Anything munch on the stuff, or am I looking at removing the live rock to a big tote after letting it dry and re-cycling it?
So far it seems limited to the back glass above the LR, and on two powerheads, so hopefully I won't have to take real drastic measures to eradicate this.
BTW: I did have an emerald crab, it liked munching on the coral more than anything else, so he took the porcelain waterslide.

 

[coolsurf]

Not sure if anything munches on it. Usually to remove it you can just pluck it out by hand. There is no scientific proof that bursting the bubbles will allow it to spread but The algae itself can be a pain if it goes ignored.

 

[smoothie]

No ill effect here on bursting in friend's tanks, but you do have to remove them all

 

[william1]

I try and pop them off with my finger and removing them. Also I have tried using a syringe and sucking the fluid out and then using the syringe to spear it and pull it off the rock.

 

[smoothie]

William is also the son of Dr G.
He is the algae examiner
Just kidding. Have seen that work and it took up all of Chris's (local guy) time for the next 2 weeks, but worked

 

[william1]

Lmao

 

[jhutto]

Emerald crabs have always worked for me...the very small ones.

 

[wbrown]

Its real hard to spot the B A mixed in with the micro bubbles that collect on the back glass. I have one shallow powerhead that sucks a vortex, and the occasional blast of bubbles when the return tip gets exposed due to the turbulence.
I lightly skimmed over it will a bit of scrub pad, if there's any B A there, its hard to spot, other than on the back of the koralia. I'll pull it off the mag mount and clean it..
Another thing I find odd is the lack of coraline growth in this tank, params are all good, matching the other tanks, but coralline is either in shadows, or low in the tank. Too much light maybe?

 

[dakota9]

wbrown;337924 wrote: Its real hard to spot the B A mixed in with the micro bubbles that collect on the back glass. I have one shallow powerhead that sucks a vortex, and the occasional blast of bubbles when the return tip gets exposed due to the turbulence.
I lightly skimmed over it will a bit of scrub pad, if there's any B A there, its hard to spot, other than on the back of the koralia. I'll pull it off the mag mount and clean it..
Another thing I find odd is the lack of coraline growth in this tank, params are all good, matching the other tanks, but coralline is either in shadows, or low in the tank. Too much light maybe?

Usually, BA sticks out like a sore thumb. I've had BA that I didn't even notice until they were the size of pearls on my live rock. I've never seen it start out in a tank on the back glass or powerheads, although in one badly infested tank of an aquaintance, I saw that it did spread to those places.

Can you get some pics?

As far as coraline goes...... How much light do you have? Is you're Calcium at or near 420ppm? I've seen 400 watts of MH on a 40g tank and coraline was going crazy (same tank that had the bad BA outbreak, oddly).

 

[wbrown]

I'll get pics when the lights come on a bit later, kinda dark now.
500W of 10K MH, 200W of Actinic PC's.
Calcium is 460 tested with a salifert test. PH 8.3, Salinity 1.023, temp 78-81, dKH 10, Ammonia 0, 'trates 0, trites 0, phosphate 0, (just a tint of color, indistinguishable.) I haven't tested the mag in a couple weeks, but it was centered in the preffered range also.
I did OD the CA, but that's been corrected and everythig runnign normal for several weeks without fluctuating. There's also 150# of encrusted LR thats doing well, just no coralline on the glass as when I had PC's only.
Other corals are encrusting and growing, Xenia is going ape (need any? )
I know I bleached out the coralline on the tank glass when I switched over to MH, but I expected the stuff to acclimate and rebound.
I've noticed some red algae and some flourescent green algae in the refugium I've never seen before recently also. I'll see if i can get my fat behind in there to get pics of that too, just for grins.
The BA I am seeing is bb sized ATM. Thats why I'd like to nail it before it gets out of control.

 

[wbrown]

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The next one is something I have no idea what it is. The deep red spots 'glow' under moonlight.

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[wbrown]

Sorta awkward to post pics and edit, or I haven't had enough coffee yet.
First pic shows the red hairy stuff, on the far side is some BA.
I toook a piece of scrub pad and waved it across the back glass without applying pressure to get the micro bubbles off. Closer look shows a few spots of BA totalling the area of a quarter. Not bad.. yet.
Second pic is another view, from a little lower. Coralline is showing on the mag base, but not growing out of shadows.
Third pic, more of the red stuff, trying to get enough of a view for ID.
Fourth and fifth pics, the fluorescent green stuff, and some red, I assume is cyano? limited to the box area around the filter socks only. carbon bag dropped in socks to clarify water.
sixth pic, Just something we've noticed in another tank, the blood red spots glow under the moonlights. Occurs on a couple rocks. Kinda neat but no idea what it is.

 

[wbrown]

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Neglected to add this one, top Right corner showing powerhead and xenia. Also shows algae growth on back glass somewhat. Replacement blennie on the way.

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Upper left powerhead. Coralline growing on rocks in shadow, not in full light.
Third PH buried in rock flowing across back glass towards overflow, hid that one pretty well.

 

[wbrown]

anyone have an idea on this?

 

[dakota9]

Looks like the back glass is highly scrapable...... Power heads could be soaked in bleach and scrubbed (1 at a time so the tank still receives movment...)

 

[wbrown]

I have two mag 9.5's throttled back, I can keep movement.
Any insight as to what the red and green algae may be? Harmful or simply unsightly?
thanks for the input.