Unorthodox Solution to Bubble Algae

Just thought I'd share a slightly crazy but apparently effective solution to bubble algae.

First a little background.. I've been battling BA since I started my tank 3 years ago. I'd managed to keep it confined to the piece of LR that it hitched in on. Every Saturday for two years I removed that rock and scrubbed & flushed it with old water change water. Without fail it would come back within days. This spring I finally gave in and nuked the rock.

I thought I was done with BA until last week when I noticed a pretty large grouping on the rock behind the one that I'd nuked. This rock had some nice macro algae on it and I didn't want to nuke yet another rock. I didn't want to go back to scrubbing every weekend either though.


The solution? A butane torch from the hardware store. These mini torches are used as a cordless soldering iron. Holding the flame around 2 inches away from the algae, I was able to boil the fluid inside of the algae without bursting the bubble. There was no damage to the macro algae I wanted to keep that sat an inch away. Once I'd boiled all of the bubbles, I moved the flame closer and burned them all off.


Couple of caveats. I'm not sure that propane/mapp gas would work as well. The flame temp from those two is higher than butane and might pop the bubbles before the spores had been killed.

I'll update with the results but as of right now 6 days have passed with no sign of return. That is more than I could say for scrubbing by hand.



Crazy? Yep. Risky? You bet. Probably best to wear safety glasses when holding a torch to a water soaked porous rock. It's a damn good feeling watching that algae boil though.

 

I had thought of this route recently myself - thanks for giving it a go and posting details. Do you have any 'after' pics you can share?
Interesting point about the different flame temps too.

matt

 

haha, i gotta try this!

 

That's comforting. Knowing that someone else considered it means I'm not totally off my rocker. ;D I wish I had before pics. There were around 30 with the largest ones maybe 1/8" across.

These are full resolution so those with a modem should click with caution.

 

The best way is what Mr Saltwater Tank does and use a small hose to detach and suck up the bubbles into a bucket. It contains spores and grabs entire bubbles as well. I've had very good success with this since my emerald crab is too lazy to eat what I where and what I purchased him for. I have gone to maybe a dozen BA to maybe one or two that are so small I haven't seen them yet and it's been over a week since my last WC. Me 1 BA 0

 

Great it worked for you but that would not have worked for me. The roots on mine were were well attached to the rock. Even tools could not get them all. So this method is of interest. EDIT- Ashevillian you may have a point here - sorry - NEED CLARIFICATION - ARE WE TALKING VALONIA HERE OR CAULERPA? IT OCCURRED TO ME WE ARE TALKING ABOUT VALONIA. I STILL HAVE CAULERPA ON THE BRAIN FROM MY RUN-IN LAST MONTH.

(Regardless, both have been a pain in the butt for me - so I still am interested in this method)


Thanks for the pics wildblue!
Any updates?

matt

 

Ashevillian: Yep. I've used the vacuum method. I've got a hollow stainless lance that has a sharpened tip to pry up bubbles while vacuuming. The problem with that method is that it can't touch small bubbles recessed in the rock so you'll never be completely rid of it.



Matt: Still no sign of it. I've got the rock set off to the side so I can pull it out for follow-up "treatment" without much hassle.


Update 11/5/11 - Still no recurrence. I'm still looking throughout the tank in case it pops up elsewhere.

Update 12/1/11 - Still nothing. Frankly I'm surprised that it appears to have killed every spore and every bubble on the first 'treatment'. My LR is a very porous Florida rock and there were a number of bubbles in the recesses (the reason that picking with the siphon wand and brushing both failed to clear it).