Valonia/Bubble problems

DEAD_BY_DAWN · #1 01-06-2005, 07:31 PM

For a brief history
aboout two months ago i was asked to help reclaim a marine aquarium,from bubble algae the tank was infested with the stuff from top to bottom after a few hours with a hose i managed to remove 75% of it last week i was called back to find 50% of it had returned "not surprising",
apart from emerald crabs is there much else that can tackle this problem long spine sea urchins perhaps ? any ideas would ber great thanks john..

mr_alberta · #2 01-06-2005, 07:39 PM

Manual removal or Emerald Crabs are probably your two best bets...there's probably a fish out there that eats the stuff as well, but which fish that is, I don't know.

DEAD_BY_DAWN · #3 01-06-2005, 07:55 PM

i wanted to pickup some Emerald Crabs but i cant seem to find any

Beverly · #4 01-06-2005, 08:59 PM

IME, manual removal only made the problem twice as bad as it had been previously

Keep looking around for an emerald crab, though not all emeralds will actually eat the valonia and may prefer other algae in your tank.

DEAD_BY_DAWN · #5 01-06-2005, 09:21 PM

there wasnt much of a option than sucking them out with the hose while doing a water change the guy said that in the past that to remove them he poped them,i guess that would account for the 1000's that were in there.

Beverly · #6 01-06-2005, 09:36 PM

I scraped mine of with an Xacto knife, then rinsed each rock in outgoing changewater. The valonia just got worse. As a last resort, I boiled each rock (about 40 lbs), then cured it. Once cured, all the rock went into a different tank as base rock. After 4 months, the boiled rock is beginning to get coralline on it.

As for the heaters and powerheads, I soaked them in vinegar. The tank was scrubbed down with tapwater. I felt awful killing all that rock, but I felt I had no alternative as I had battled valonia for going on a year and it only got worse each time I carefully scraped it off. Plus, the emerald crab I bought ate all the OTHER algae and some of one of my lps corals and didn't touch the valonia

muck · #7 01-06-2005, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beverly

Plus, the emerald crab I bought ate all the OTHER algae and some of one of my lps corals and didn't touch the valonia

Which LPS did he eat?

Willow · #8 01-06-2005, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEAD_BY_DAWN

the guy said that in the past that to remove them he poped them

classic!

Beverly · #9 01-06-2005, 10:07 PM

The little beggar started in on my galaxy, so I took it back to the lfs.