Satchmo Posted July 5, 2002 Share Posted July 5, 2002 I have small clumps of bubble algae here and there on my liverock. Another piece of rock is being covered by fairly quick-growing greenish borwn "leaves". These are rougly 1 cm long, sticking out of the rock singlely, or in groups of 2-3 leaves. I don't know what the second described algae is, but I've read that bubble algae can become problematic. Should I start plucking these things off? Thanks. Link to comment
Paul G Posted July 5, 2002 Share Posted July 5, 2002 The bubble algae I would remove, the other type sounds like Sargassum and is more common in a new setup and tends to die away after several months, doesn't seem to get too rampant so personally if it is Sargassum I would't worry too much - IMO. Link to comment
mysk Posted July 5, 2002 Share Posted July 5, 2002 carful removing the bubble alge i have had them break open and spread everywhere. Link to comment
karlas Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 sounds like the 2nd one u described is sargasam its a brown leafy macro alge can grow quite rapidly but after a couple of months will eventually die off. heres a site on it sargassam pic info i had it growing off of some lr in the tank also and had to pune it bout once a week did this when i did a water change until it eventually started to dissapear. after it dissapeared i had grape capulera and halmedia start growing. Link to comment
Satchmo Posted July 6, 2002 Author Share Posted July 6, 2002 Thanks everyone. Karlas- that sorta looks like what I've got. Only my "leaves" look to be a bit broader and more spade-shaped. Maybe it's just a variant. I'll let them be for now, they don't really bother me. Mysk- any suggestions on the proper way of removing the bubble algae? When I got my LR, there was only one bubble (1cm) visible. More have cropped up in smaller clumps. The original bubble has since gone from green to brown, then more or less disintegrated. I hope it didn't spew out seed or whatever when it did this. I was planning on just tweezing these things off the rock. Is there a better way to do this with less chance of breaking them? Link to comment
karlas Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 there are different species of sargassm the stuff i had had longer stems and shorter stalkier leaves also Link to comment
Sahin Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 Its sargassm alright. One piece of rock in my tank has quite a few small bits. In my tank they are growing very slowly as that piece of rock get minimal light. I too have the broad spade type shapes. I never bothered removing them. As for the bubble algae, one of y LR was absolutely covered with this stuff. I read somewhere that smaller bubbles dont have the spores, so I just use a airline tubing to nudge them loose while maintaining a siphone and out they come into a bucket. The larger ones I maintain a siphone using a larger tubing, and with the help of someone else, I try and remove the bubble as a whole using various household items. If one happens to burst, the siphone is started right away by the other person and almost all spores and taken out. The third option I take it to attach a pin or needle using a elastic band to airline tubing, get a siphine started, burst the bubbles using the pin attached to the airline tubing and everything comes out into a bucket. I have removed 95% of bubble algae using these methods. None has resulted in bubble algae spreading, just be careful and use your imgination to prepare war and fight the bubble algae. Link to comment
Kapelakin Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 Tweezers work pretty well. They don't pop that easily if you get them when they're green and shiny. Just don't use pointy tweezers and you should be fine. Link to comment
Sahin Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 Oh, and the other 5% I didnt manage to remove as they were too small and located in crevices etc, so I just wait until they are slightly bigger and then remove them. Link to comment
Satchmo Posted July 6, 2002 Author Share Posted July 6, 2002 Thanks again. Sahin- I like the airline tubing idea. I'm gonna try that. Like I said the only big one I had is gone... the rest will certainly fit through airline tubing. Whatever won't come loose will get the tweezer treatment. Thanks for the suggestion. Link to comment
Toyfreek Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 I use the Mithrax Crab method Toy Link to comment
cenzo Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 how does bubble algae start? Link to comment
cmoreash Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 I let my crabs eat the bubble algae, and pop the ones they miss:o PS: i'm a tard Link to comment
Xwhite Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 Bubble algae sucks. I haven't tried it, but I think my future strategy for bubble algae will be to grow alot of other more attractive macros and let them weed out the bubble. Link to comment
Wigguh Noony Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 Wait..Is bubble algae the same as Grape Cauplerpa? ??? I have grape caulerpa and its OK. If you mess with it alot it looks like sh!t, but if you leave it alone- It will grow in small clumps. Link to comment
Satchmo Posted February 9, 2003 Author Share Posted February 9, 2003 No, two different things. With the bubble algae, you won't see the stems like you do with grape caulerpa. The bubbles tend to grow in sheets. Link to comment
karlas Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 heres a pic of bubble alge Link to comment
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