I've had this little problem with bubble algae in the nano-reef, and it looked like it was starting to become a big problem. Bubble algae looks exactly like it sounds -- little green balls all over the place. They're actually pretty cool looking, but when they started crowding out the coral I figured it was time to do something.
The most common recommendation I found was to get an emerald crab. I did a little digging and emerald crabs are supposed to eat bubble algae and more importantly, most people agree that they're reef-safe. I didn't want to get something that would snack on the coral in between bites of the algae.
After four calls (which involved being transferred a total of eleven times) and three weeks, the local chain store outlet was able to get an emerald crab for me. It's pretty big and it was running all over the place in the bag, so I figured it was reasonably healthy.
This crab has been in the tank for about four hours now. I think it might be... special. In a short bus sort of way. The first thing it did was eat a bunch of sand. Then it climbed around on the rocks trying to get the copepods which darted away. While climbing around, it walked all over the bubble algae, but I have yet to see it do anything with it.
So, yeah, someday soon I'll get a picture of the new emerald crab.
His name is Timmy.
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