What would you do....?

[koda_dad]

Hi all,

I am in the process of upgrading my tank from a 33 to a 130.

My tank has been doing well but I have been battling red bubble algae well.....for freaking ever.

I really don't want to have to deal with 5 times the red bubble algae.

My rock is really coraline covered and as said has been maintaining my lps and sps corals perfectly.

So here is my dilemma..... Would you:

A) In the transfer cut off any red bubble and scrub the offending areas well with a toothbrush

B) Keep it, but kill it and start new by re-seeding it.

C) Sell it and buy new rock from a trusted source.

I can find no natural predator for this type red bubble algae..... We have been removing 20-30 every 2 weeks...

There is probably 30-40 in my tank now....

What would you do....

 

[VAreef]

I'd go with option B. Kill it all then reseed with a new rock. Coralline grows quick.

 

[koda_dad]

Part 2 of the question....

By either going with new rock , or baking this I will be losing a huge part of my bacteria.

Will this be the start of a huge cycle.....As mentioned I have lps, sps and fish in my tank now....

What about the corals that are glued to the rocks? My bta?
What about corals that have grown over rocks?

I never dreamed i would even consider this.....

 

[Bifferwine]

You will be losing the majority of your bacteria. If you kill it, your tank could suffer. That's why I'd go with Option A. Just go over each rock one by one very thoroughly. You are not going to get it all. The trick is to get the numbers low enough that you can deal with them as they pop up in your tank.

 

[koda_dad]

thats what I am afraid of....I have a lot of $$$ in corals now...

Any other thoughts?

 

[eclipse_001]

if your moving to a 130g why not try option a and a foxface rabbitfish from what i have read and understand they will eat that stuff for ya

 

[ccCapt]

How about a pic of this "red bubble" algae. The green, valonia.sp algae is the nusiance algae that nothing eats....except maybe emerald crabs. Tangs will eat red algae and it usually isn't considered nusiance algae.

 

[koda_dad]

https://www.livingreefs.com/help-now-have-red-and-green-bubble-algae-t26947.html

This the thread where we collectively...mainly Biff :) Thank you! figured out what type of red bubble algae I had.

I have some Green stuff called Valonia Utricularious
http://www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=2011

That type does have natural predators.

The red is called Red Valonia (Botryocladia skottsbergii)
http://www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=2087

Doesn't get much worse than this... :(

 

[Bifferwine]

How about a pic of this "red bubble" algae. The green, valonia.sp algae is the nusiance algae that nothing eats....except maybe emerald crabs. Tangs will eat red algae and it usually isn't considered nusiance algae.

Yeah from what I read, it's pretty difficult to get under control. Nothing eats it.

 

[koda_dad]

What to do...what to do... Any idea how you get this in the first place?

 

[reeffreak]

There are always going to be spores that come in with live rock waiting for the right condition to grow.I would do option A and hope for the best.

 

[Jmck]

How about another option, leave everything in your tank for a number of months.

buy the new tank with new base rock, cycle it and start from scratch on that one, keeping away from the algae and then slowly transfer all corals and fish over. If you dont have many fish you wont have as much problem with spiking it for another cycle. but move say 1 fish every week isntead of once a month and move acro's last when water is more stable.

 

[koda_dad]

How about another option, leave everything in your tank for a number of months.

buy the new tank with new base rock, cycle it and start from scratch on that one, keeping away from the algae and then slowly transfer all corals and fish over. If you dont have many fish you wont have as much problem with spiking it for another cycle. but move say 1 fish every week isntead of once a month and move acro's last when water is more stable.

That's ultimately what I am thinking too... then I can do it slowly...the risk is still there when I transfer over the corals as far as the spores go...... but it should be way less.

So I am going to move everything into the temporary 58 gallon setup for now...exactly as I have it. (not sure what to do about the sandbed yet though)

Then once the large tank arrives.... get the large base rock in place and any other rock I am purchasing... and slowly move everything in.

Then I can choose to keep the bad rock, nuke it , or sell it...

If there was just an "easy" way to move it all to the temp 58 :)

 

[Cottonwood]

Why are you moving it to a temp 58? Why not just wait and only do one slow move into your 130 once you have it ready? Would save work, time, and stress on your live stock I'd think to only do one move instead of 2....But I am lazy and try to steer clear of work! haha!

 

[koda_dad]

Because the 33 is in the exact place my large tank is going and I someone wants to buy my 33 setup

 

[Jmck]

Ahhhh i see for that, well, you can do it as a qt without a sandbed i guess, just put the rocks in along with the corals unless you have fish that need the sandbed. If not, just do it as you would normally do a change to a bigger tank and it will be fine then transfer it all when the cycle finishes. IF your going to do it this way btw, i would NOT use this rock again unless its boiled and i would give everything a 30 second freshwater dip

This might kill off the spores of the red bubble algae.

 

[Bifferwine]

A freshwater dip won't kill the algae, unfortunately :(

 

[Cottonwood]

Ok, I guess then you do have to move twice! It would probably be pretty expensive to buy all new rock, so I'm with the option of using that rock just going over it really well when you transfer it and getting rid of everything you can see. Maybe if you get it all off, the spors wont grow in the new tank because of the environment change, and if some do, you can keep on top of it from the start and that may keep the numbers down just a few manageable ones. Sure sucks though! Tough situation with that stuff!