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Unread 09/10/2021, 02:21 PM   #1
thoznour
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Help Bubble algae. to rescape or not.

SO my tank has a pretty bad bubble algae problem. and ive been removing it every week when i do a water change but it seems to be coming back every week.. i have rocks that have been curing in salt water for a few months now and have pondered pulling the rocks with algae and cleaning tank and sand of all the bubble and re scaping and install corals back in ... will i have a major cycle that might hurt my fish and corals or should it all be good with the sand remaining in the tank.. tank is 14 gal/ has 2 clowns and a tail spot blenny. a few snails for livestock,, and some corals ?
thanks in advance


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Unread 09/10/2021, 02:26 PM   #2
Snarky Shark
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I’ve treated small areas directly with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Do it in advance of water change it will kill off algae so it should not come back. Do a little each week with water changes and you should start to see a difference. I wouldn’t recommend using if you have sps in the tank.


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Unread 09/10/2021, 02:40 PM   #3
sorinwilcox
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With a volume of 14 G I think you can do a full change but can also depending on the amount of new rock you use if it will restart your cycle. This would be depending how long your tank was set up. And how much you put back.

With a 14g I don't think it will hurt much as long as your just test your alk before and after then I would do like 4 hours after. I noticed there is always a shift in alkalinity when I move a bunch of rock in a out. And just keep it stable.

Here is how I would do it

I would drain the tank with clean tank water. Then I would move all the fish and rock out first with clean water and leave 30% of water left in the tank. Remove all coral rock and livestock. Clean sand and remove dirty water or mix more and clean sand more and 30% new water to your clean sand

I would clean off all the bubbles outside of the tank. As they have spores when you pop them they spread. You can always now move rocks that have to much bubble alage into your cycle bucket or let them dry out if you can't get it all off.

Make new aquscapes and enjoy your new look. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions

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Unread 09/12/2021, 08:43 AM   #4
Dan.
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I had success with Vibrant.


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Unread 09/13/2021, 08:41 PM   #5
CAPT_Dave
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+1 on the Vibrant. It didn’t do much else for me but it sure did wipe out my bubble algae. Be patient, it takes a couple weeks or more but it took mine out over a year ago and I haven’t seen it since. If you pop them their spores spread. Scrubbing is bad. Rescaping might not solve the problem if you don’t kill all the spores.

The other problem with rescapimg is not just your nitrogen cycle but all you’re microbes. You will likely repeat the ugly phase but it could get worse than that. I went aggressive on GHA because it was smothering my coral and then got cyano. Then It was covering my coral so I went aggressive on cyano and got GHA again. This went on for months back and forth and then dinos. I unbalanced the healthy biom to the point that one of the worst plagues in our hobby became the dominant creature in my tank. It’s so bad that I’ve lost all my SPS and Euphylia. Five year old colonies wiped out in a couple weeks. Only zoas left. I’m using the Elegant Corals regimen now, which is all about rebuilding a healthy biom. Wish me luck!

Bacteria solve most of our problems. Add them. Nurture them with adequate phosphates (anything above 0) and adequate nitrates (5-10 ppm). Go slow. And research and learn how dinos can become dominant in your tank. Then don’t do that.

Good luck!


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Unread 09/14/2021, 10:15 PM   #6
cody6766
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Vibrant killed mine too. It takes a while, but it works. I had a few spots of really stubborn short hair algae left, but it killed a horrible bubble and longer hair algae infestation.


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Unread 09/15/2021, 06:06 PM   #7
reefinJ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CAPT_Dave View Post
+1 on the Vibrant. It didn’t do much else for me but it sure did wipe out my bubble algae. Be patient, it takes a couple weeks or more but it took mine out over a year ago and I haven’t seen it since. If you pop them their spores spread. Scrubbing is bad. Rescaping might not solve the problem if you don’t kill all the spores.

The other problem with rescapimg is not just your nitrogen cycle but all you’re microbes. You will likely repeat the ugly phase but it could get worse than that. I went aggressive on GHA because it was smothering my coral and then got cyano. Then It was covering my coral so I went aggressive on cyano and got GHA again. This went on for months back and forth and then dinos. I unbalanced the healthy biom to the point that one of the worst plagues in our hobby became the dominant creature in my tank. It’s so bad that I’ve lost all my SPS and Euphylia. Five year old colonies wiped out in a couple weeks. Only zoas left. I’m using the Elegant Corals regimen now, which is all about rebuilding a healthy biom. Wish me luck!

Bacteria solve most of our problems. Add them. Nurture them with adequate phosphates (anything above 0) and adequate nitrates (5-10 ppm). Go slow. And research and learn how dinos can become dominant in your tank. Then don’t do that.

Good luck!


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Alright, we'll use Vibrant to keep the bubble algae controlled. I'll have plenty of time next week to address the algae and microbes on my aunt's tank after I finished installing the brake pads and moto metal wheels on the truck.


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Unread 09/18/2021, 10:24 PM   #8
SantaMonica
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Increasing your nutrient export will do it too

What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.

So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.

Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).

So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals


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