Loosing battle with bubble algae

[lnk89]

Originally Posted by syncro

Algae turf scrubber?

I've had good luck with a simple upflow ATS to beat hair algae and cyano.

Instead of trying to kill it, grow something to out-compete it.

I have a friend with a 5g tank that put a a small submersible led light with some fabric in a back compartment that worked for him.

Ah I never thought of that. I will look into that. Maybe I can do something with my HOB that I have on the tank.

Originally Posted by Myka

Looking at the photos of your tank it's obvious that you have too much nutrients in the tank, and not enough flow.

I think the "daylight" LEDs probably aren't helping you much either - they are too yellow/white. You need to add more blue light, and less white light. If you don't have the funds to do that you can buy some blue cellophane to cover up some of the white LEDs to make them blue. If you go to somewhere like Staples you'll find something useful such as the colored plastic sleeves used to hold papers in binders. Do you know what I mean? Any kind of clear blue plastic will work as long as it isn't much thicker than a typical paper sheet.

Why are there so much nutrients in the tank? You said no fish, right? Were there fish before? Are you feeding the corals? What are you adding to the tank besides salt?

You also said you only have 1 Astraea Snail. You need to beef up your clean up crew. If you can find a small Tuxedo Urchin that will help a lot. Add a couple Turbos or Trochus, and maybe 3-4 Scarlet Hermits (not other type of hermits).

I'd also add 2-3 large male Emerald Crabs. The big males eat Bubble Algae WAY better than small ones, and way better than females. Don't worry about popping the bubbles, only the mature bubbles will have mature spores in them, so the ones that pop on their own are the bad ones - the hard ones you pop don't matter.

When you do a water change, blow the rocks and nooks and crannies out with a turkey baster first, and then siphon all the junk out. Use the siphon hose to suck all the detritus out. Vacuum the sand to its full depth with a gravel vacuum (pinch the hose to get the sand to fall out).

What size is that powerhead? Do you have any other filtration or pumps? You may need to upgrade that powerhead to one size bigger. Too much gunk is settling out in the tank. If you don't have any filtration on the tank (I don't see anything listed), I'd suggest you get a hang on filter. Use bulk filter pads (not sponges) that you cut to size yourself. Throw them out (don't reuse) once a week. Also use some carbon to adsorb some dissolved organics.

It will be a long road, but if you do all these things well you will be able to save the tank. I own a marine aquarium service company - I've cleaned up tanks like yours many times.

I had no idea about the light. I believe the light I have, I can control the lights to make them more/less blue or white. How much more blue do I want?

I have no idea why there are so many nutrients in the tank. I have no fish and 1 snail. I only do water changes don't feed anything. Maybe it's the water I am getting, but I have tested the water before hand and nitrates,nitrites and phosphate was all 0.

I will try adding some more cleanup crew. I have tried the emerald crab with no luck on the bubble algae. Maybe I didn't get a male. I have had bad luck with snails and crabs. The one lone snail I have was the first thing I added to the tank(first marine animal purchase) and it's the largest and the only one that has survived.

I have a powerhead and a HOB filter. The powerhead is a hydor koralia 240 and the HOB is aquaclear 50. The HOB has a sponge and the little ceramic rings. I clean the sponge and rings in tank water every other week or so. I guess I should remove the sponge.

[henri2009]

I recently cycled my first tank (IM Nuvo 20) about 4 months ago and I was having constant algae issues (green slime and bubble algae) as well, it was everywhere and no matter how much I cleaned the substrate, scrubbed the rock, decreased the light duration and water changes, the algae was back within a few days.

In terms of media, I was using Chemipure Blue but after some research I thought it would be best to try a combination of Aquaforest Carbon and Phosphate Minus (GFO) instead of an all-in-one media like Chemipure Blue. I got rid of as much algae as I could, did a water change, cleaned out my media baskets then inserted the new media. It has only been about a 1 1/2 weeks and the algae is well under control. The Phosphate Minus is the key player in getting rid of my algae. I am not using a reactor for the Phosphate Minus, only placed in a media bag.

I am also using Aquaforest Pro Bio S and NP Pro to help my skimmer work more efficiently which in the end, removes more of the nutrients algae need to survive.