best way to rid tank of green bubble algae

[SteveDola]

I hav 2 little spots of it on my LR but I want to get rid of it quickly to ensure a clean tank. How do i do it? I heard that you dont pop it because it comes back 10 fold so what should i do?

 

[Syris]

I always just use tweezers to remove them, making sure i dont pop em in the process.
My tank has barely any since doing it this way. HTH

 

[Shroom King]

I've used this before with great success...
Take the shell of one of those clear bic pens, remove the guts, and any endcaps. Jamb the bottom end into some flexible tubing (I forget which diameter I use, but it needs to fit tightly around the pen shell.) Then, use it to do a water change, using the open pen tip as your suction "tool". You can suck the little bastards right up, and if they do pop, you get most of the spores in your bucket.

Emerald crabs also will eat them, but I had one that didn't eat a one, so that doesn't always work.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I've done something similar to 'Shroom King'. I scotch tape a sharp nosed tweezers to a siphon hose, get the siphon going pretty fast, then pop the bubble. My experience in the past has been that the large bubble algae is MUCH less problematic than the small stuff. I've also found that Blonde Naso tangs, and Red Sea Sailfin tangs will eat the stuff fairly reliably, but these fish get quite large, both need a 180 gallon tank at full size, maybe even larger. The emerald crabs do sometimes work. I purchased some that didn't, then later tried again and had one that worked incredibly well.

 

[dad300]

i popped all mine when the emerald didn't work and... NOthing happened. It didn't grow back. I never saw it again.

 

[soccer4life94]

How far along is your tank? I had some bubble algae on one of my pieces of LR. I just took the rock out. chiseled away the areas that had the bubbles. I have two bubbles that i missed. I heard if you put apoxy over it they will die off and not spread. My emerald does nothing for them. I havent seem any other since i cleaned the rock though.

 

[marco67]

I use a monoject syringe to suck the juice from them. Then they just come right off. (system much like above).
Another thing I've done is just let them get big enough to remove whole by hand.
Something that I find funny about "not poping them" How does a tang or emerald eat them with out poping them? I bet they can't!

 

[Richard]

Hey Marco you don't think the emeralds carry a straw and suck out the juice before eatting the shell?