Covering rock ideas...

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debdp

Premium Member
Well I didn't know quite how to put the title... but here's the dilemma. I have bubble algae, wall to wall, except in dark areas of the tank. I'm slowly raising alk as that seemed to work for some but it's not setting well with some animals. I had moved some zoas up higher in the tank and since they didn't seem to do well there I moved them back down and noticed that all the algae died off underneath them.

So... I'm trying to figure out some type of material that is flexible like plastic, won't house a bunch of brittle stars that I'll have to pick out later like felt would, but will be dark enough to block light out from the bubble algae. I can put holes in it to set my plugs so the corals will stay in the same spot. I was thinking black plastic garbage bags but I'm really afraid they might be chemically treated in some fashion. Food grade saran wrap is usually see through.

I plan to get some emerald crabs but I need to get the algae under control some how to make it more manageable for the crabs.

Any ideas?
 
Hi Deb,

Bubble algae can be tough, it also can live in low light, low nutrient environments so it's possible that it may "adapt" if you start reducing the light. It could also trigger the mature ones to release spores causing it to spread further although I'm not 100% sure on that one but is seems plausible. :) The best approach may be adding the emerald crabs and siphoning/removing as much as you can each day to lessen their workload.. Have you also thought about just raising your light's to see it's effect on the bubble algae??

Cheers,
 
Thanks Bimmerz.... the main reason I'm going with the no light blocking idea is it is not growing in my low light display refugium area where I had kept my suncorals & chili coral, nor under any of the dark overhang areas in my tank even though it's rampant on high light/high flow areas. It's of course not growing on corals, but it will however cover the base of my gorgonians so I have to pull & clean them often. It grows on the sand, which I vacuum up. I did try vacuuming, pulling on the black foam around the top of the tank area, cleaned the rock...within a week most of it was growing back. <u>Extremely</u> tedious, time consuming and disruptive for my wrasses who are now gun shy when I approach the tank. I'd have to spend several hours a week or a couple hours a day just trying to keep up with it. I'm swamped with work from my business, an elderly dog needing constant care, and my jawfish who's eyesight is not the best still needs handfeeding. When I say wall to wall I really do mean wall to wall... there is not one inch of free space not covered by bubble algae on the top portion of my tank unless it's directly under a coral plug. I just feel covering them sections at a time, even though they may die and release spores, with no available light to continue growing the spores would be siphoned out in the canister filter and over time reduce enough for the crabs to keep up and corals to take over the available space.

I tried a small 2" x 2" section using coral epoxy and they actually died in a few days, but the stupid epoxy wouldn't hold and was knocked off by my Mexican Turbo taking her with it.

I had this in my 12g nanocube and it's the reason I broke it down. I cleaned it regularly, cleaned the rock, vacuumed the sand, scraped the back wall 2-3 times a week all to no avail. 1 emerald crab ate and ate but he couldn't keep up. I gave up and tore the tank down after 7 months of it. I made the mistake of putting one of those rocks from the nanocube in with my monti rock when I was resetting up the new tank and I know that's how it got its foot in the door. But I refuse to let it kick my butt twice :evil: Okay rant/venting over ...sorry...

Anyway I'm just wanting to try covering it since it worked in a small section really quick.

Oh and just one more note, it's not in any of my other tanks, just this one. My 15g frag tank, 24 gallon tank and nano setup are bubble free. The 24g tnank gets a couple big bubbles once in a while but I leave it alone and they disappear.
 
Got it :idea: Pond liner... that should be reef safe, right? I have some scrap pieces from building my pond.
 
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