The dreaded Bubble Algae...

[cm6755]

Hello everyone...thanks for reading this. I am having a HUGE problem with Bubble Algae, I have been battling this/them for months. I have 2 Emerald Crabs that apparantly do NOT have an affinity for Bubble Algae...they DO however love to rip my teeny feather dusters apart....protein I guess. Short of pulling out all of my affected live rock and plucking them off, is there ANYTHING else I can do? Again, thank you for reading this and trying to help.
Oh yeah, my water parameters are ALL within normal/satisfactory range. The tank is a 30 gallon, inhabitants are 1 green target mandarin goby/dragonet, 2 kaupang damselfish, 1 sandsifting starfish (maybe 2), 20ish snails, possibly 1 peppermint shrimp (haven't seen him since a week after I purchased him...guess I'd better write him off.), 1 yellow tang, mushroom polyps, button polyps, 2 unknown leathers (1 white & 1 lt. purple....hitchhikers) a few scarlet legged hermits...ummmm you can see my signature in case I have forgotten a few. Thanks again...cm

 

[Fishieness]

low nutrient levels will take care of it. skim wet and replavea your carbon often. also, if you can do more frequent water changes or jsut larger ones and feed less you will notice a difference. and just keep on removing it
also, on a side note: a mandarin, yellow tank, and sand sifting starfish are all creatures not recomended for a small tank. mandarins eat primarily pods found on your live rock, and with 33 pounds, you may not have anough to substain one long term. on a very very very rare occation, you will find one that will eat frozen foods so i am sorry if you just so happen to have found one. i have one in my 40 breeder, but i also have between 95-100 pounds of lr. also, a yellow tang will outgrow that tank quickly if it hasnt already and most sandsifting starfish die from starvation even in much larger tanks with dsbs because they run out of food. not recomended for a 30 gallon. anyways, sorry about that, but i figure i might as well put the info out there if you are not already aware.

 

[Fishieness]

also, make sure you are using at east RO water. tap water will only help the bubble algae situation (as in, help it thrive and explode)