How to get rid of Valonea algae?

[Drock169]

emerald crab

[VFX]

Originally Posted by Drock169

emerald crab

Everybody under the Sun seemed to agree that a Mithrax Emerald crab would be the solution to Valonia problems in my 60g reef but to be honest I saw no discernable difference.

He probably ate some but not enough for it to be noticeable.

I still had to manually remove the algae.

Sorry to hijack a thread but is there any other way of getting rid of those pesky bubbles?

.

[justinl]

I found manual removal worked best for me. You just have to careful not to allow spore dispersal when you do it. My method was to turn the pumps off, have a siphon going and use the siphon to physically pop the bubbles and dislodge it if possible. That way any debris or spores from the algae would be sucked up immediately.

Ive also heard that only female emerald crabs have a good chance of feasting on valonia (given that other food sources aren't as readily available). the males are more lazy apparently.

[sharuq1]

Blow torch Got rid of every single bad algae on my rock. Definitely a last resort but frick it works, lol. If you do this though there will be alot of die off and you will have to keep the rocks in a seperate area until they are "stable" again. Definitely don't do this unless you are prepared to handle the die off on the rock though.

[justinl]

Originally Posted by sharuq1

Blow torch Got rid of every single bad algae on my rock. Definitely a last resort but frick it works, lol. If you do this though there will be alot of die off and you will have to keep the rocks in a seperate area until they are "stable" again. Definitely don't do this unless you are prepared to handle the die off on the rock though.

lol yeah that one definitely works too. My version of the "extreme heat" method is to pour two consecutive kettles of just-boiled water over the rock, flipping the rock between the kettles and trying to get the water into every nook and cranny. try not to burn yourself. This is what i usually do for a bad patch of aiptasia, majano or hydroids. definitely cure the rocks separately after this though

[Myka]

Originally Posted by sharuq1

Blow torch Got rid of every single bad algae on my rock. Definitely a last resort but frick it works, lol. If you do this though there will be alot of die off and you will have to keep the rocks in a seperate area until they are "stable" again. Definitely don't do this unless you are prepared to handle the die off on the rock though.

BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

All my live rock is currently ripped out of my tank sitting in a Rubbermaid in the dark with a powerhead and a heater for this same reason. I had three different varieties of Valonia...now it dies in the dark!!! Hehehehe...