possible green bubble algae cure??

[swissgaurd]

the dreaded bubble algae started to infest my tank approx 3 years ago.
the only cure was to carefully hand pick this algae,carefully not to break any bubbles,to avaid the spread of more spores.
this past summer it got so bad the worse ive ever seen,i pulled my rocks and removed all bubbles that i could see,this system has been in operation for 9 years succesfully.
im always on the lookout for animals that will benifit my system.
in the summer of 2009 i added a foxface,i saw it looking at the bubbles but never really saw it eat any,i also added a ocean tang due to there ability to eat algaes in the wild.in december i added a vlamagi tang and a long spine sea urchin.
january i started to see a difference in bubble algae.
Ive always kept my parameters in check.
including no phosphates and nitrates.
i was so used to seeing bubble algae in my tank that it actually became part of the reef.
but in february i noticed that there was no bubble algae to be seen.it was amazing to see the see swirl with no bubbles, no bubbles clogging my overflow.
wow patience has paid off, 3 yrs waiting.

so i do some testing. its been a month
calcium 400, its dropped from 450
alkalinty 7 dkh ohoh dropped fron 10 dkh retune calcium reactor
salinity 1.25ppm
ph 8.2
phosphate and nitrate 0ppm
magnessium 1300

so its been 2 weeks
no bubbles to be found
my alk 12 dkh.tuning i like it below 11
calcium 425 going to tweek it a bit higher
mag. 1300 going to boost it to 1350.

so im baffled what happened, was it the combo of the foxface,sea urchin vlamagi tang,ocean tang.
or was it the huge swing in alkalinity.
im really excited that somehow ive battled a cure for this dreaded green bubble.
i may also add that for 2 yrs i have not been able to keep any type of xenia at all but i now am able to keep xenia again.

what is going on


vic

 

[BigAl07]

First of all congrats for your success. Diligence is paying off.

I'd venture a guess that it was a combination of many things all working to rid your system of that "Glass Nasties". Do you have any emerald crabs? They're known to munch on BA now and again.

 

[swissgaurd]

nope no emeralds.i would have to use many crabs
its almost like this disapeared over night.
i used to get the bubbles clogging my skimmers venturi
now nothing.

to me its a reefing breakthrough
but how??

 

[coralmadness]

emerald crabs works really well. I used to have bubble algae also. I put six emerald crabs in my 90 gal. tank, and it was gone in a month.

 

[1Reefer]

I had a bubble algae problem a while back, emerald crabs to the rescue! The trick is to put the emeralds in an don't feed the tank (or feed as little as you possibly can if you must feed). The emeralds seem to use the bubble algae as a main food source if there isn't much other foods available.