Lets talk Valonia

PoonTang · #1 02-20-2009, 04:32 AM

It would seem that my valonia population is increasing in number. Has anyone had any success in beating them? Trimmed my cheato the other day and my fuge is just full of them. Several in the DT too that i keep getting rid of by siphoning them off but they just seem to keep coming back.

reeferious · #2 02-20-2009, 04:43 AM

a few hungry emerald crabs should help you trim them down.

emerald crab · #3 02-20-2009, 05:29 AM

Emerald crab worked for me.

awa1979 · #4 02-20-2009, 05:53 AM

Emerald crab also worked for me, within a week it was gone.

High tide · #5 02-20-2009, 07:49 AM

Emerald, also Powder Brown Tang (Acanthurus japonicus) should eat it. These guys will only take care of the smaller ones, manually extract the larger ones.

mark · #6 02-20-2009, 01:26 PM

Had an outbreak for bit and just kept on the manual removal (dislodge the bubbles, then net out). Still have some but need to look hard.

Had 2 emerald crabs, personally don't think they did much.

Myka · #7 02-20-2009, 02:18 PM

Oh man, don't ever get me started on this! Do a search for the keywords "bubble algae" and threads started by user "Myka". There is no cut and dry answer to your dilemma. An interesting thing to note is that in ZeoVit tanks the last algae to disappear is always valonia, which goes to show that it can survive on very little nutrients. In my 33g tank I have two Emerald Crabs, and I don't think they have done a thing to the bubble algae. I also went as far as putting a 1 1/2" Kole Tang in my tank (march thee Tang Police!!!) which is known to eat algaes. I don't think he has done anything either, even though he picks at the rocks a lot. I was religiously manually removing valonia on weekly waterchanges, and it was always coming back. I even cooked the rock for 9 weeks (if I remember correctly), and it still came back. Honestly, I have given up. Manual removal seems to be the only thing that really makes any difference at all.

Nihoa · #8 02-20-2009, 02:34 PM

i had no idea what valonia was when i first went to buy liverock to add to an established tank we bought. i thought it looked cool and i actually picked the pieces that had the most bubble algae on it! luckily for us it hasnt spread, the bubble have gotten bigger but we havent seen any news ones. our emerald crab hasnt done anything about it, its little and hangs out on one side of the tank and i dont think hes even seen the rock with the valonia on it yet.

Borderjumper · #9 02-20-2009, 03:00 PM

I bought 2 emerald crabs and they havent done anything algae wise, they munch on my acros now and then. I caught one and he now lives in my sump and his buddy will be joining him as soon as I spot him again.

I dont know if all these guys will eat it or if its just mine that does, but my new convict tang eats the smaller ones and pulls the bigger ones off the rocks, so atleast its floating and I can snag it.

High tide · #10 02-20-2009, 03:23 PM

I guess it's all luck of the draw, you never know if they'll eat valonia! I have had great success with emeralds, you need enough of them to do the job. Also, with fish you never know, you could have a tang or a rabbitfish that eats them.
I have 2 tanks plumbed to the same sump, one tank has valonia the other tank doesn't, the sump has it too. The tank that doesn't has 4 scopas tangs,2 yellow tangs, a powder blue, and a coral rabbitfish. The tank that does(being eliminated through manual removal and emeralds)has 1 yellow tang,1 scopas,1 double barred rabbitfish, 1 striatus tang, and a blochii, none of these guys touch it.
In the past I had a powder brown that eliminated all traces of valonia in a 135 gal. single handedly.
I've noticed my emerald crabs picking at my SPS, but they never seem to do any damage.
Good luck in your battle!