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What exactly causes BBA? Part 2 - Bacterial imbalance

What baffles me most is 1 little 25 litre tank only stocked with shrimps and snails never fertilezed standing for a few years periods heated and periods not heated, it stands beside a window and has only natural light. It never even grew a spot of BBA, if i throw BBA infested plants in there they come out clean weeks later. :)

I have similar experience as yours. I have a one gal planted shrimp bowl by the window (in the avatar) that has no heater, no filter, and no artificial light, just receiving 4 hour direct sunlight daily. The plants are lush with no trace of BBA from day one I set it up. I transferred some BBA infested plants from my big fish tank, and the BBA are gone in few weeks. I do not fertilize or do water change, except I top it with dirty water from my big fish tank regularly. Nitrate is always detected near zero. Occasionally I do negative WC by replacing a few ounze of clean water in the bowl with dirty water from my big fish tank.

The shrimp are rarely fed, and live on dead plant tissues, algae that I can't see, and biofilm. There are snails and variety of tinny critters crawling around. The bowl is totally free of algae of any sort that I can see. Is it UV from direct sunlight or insignificant bio load that keep BBA out.
 
Is it UV from direct sunlight

Likely not, glass filters the majority of daylights harmfull UV, :) that's why we do not get a burn nor a tan from sitting in the sun behind glass, we only get hot. For the rest conserning UV lights as used in aqaurium and ponds it can kill free floating 1 cell organisme in the water column such as germs and free floating algae cells causing green water. Only if there is sufficient intensity and exposure time.. If both are not met it smiles and waves and swims by back to the tank. :)
 
The tiny ostracods etc could have a significant effect though. I've heard of them destroying GSA in some tanks.

Any ideas on 'flipping' the tanks to another equilibrium and perhaps into a domination of algae that can be easily controlled such as GDA etc?
 
Likely not, glass filters the majority of daylights harmfull UV, :) that's why we do not get a burn nor a tan from sitting in the sun behind glass, we only get hot. :)

That isn’t true. Truck drivers who are exposed to glass filtered sunlight on one side have uneven tanning that has been demonstrated by X-ray of excessive skin damage on one side of the face.

Outdoor tubs also don’t get bba, but green water and other nasty algae. So there is suggestion that UV may have something to do with it.

The tiny ostracods etc could have a significant effect though. I've heard of them destroying GSA in some tanks.
?

ostracods can certainly take out GSA, but not bba as many bba infested tanks have ostracods too.
 
There is UVA and UVB, glass filters about all UV-B and a part of the UV-A.. You wont get a tan nor a burn behind a window.. All tho, very long intensive sun exposure behind glass still bombards your skin with UV-A and can indeed lead to skin damage in te long run. UV-B is the most intensive an damaging wave length of UV light.

If it has a limiting effect on certain algae growth i can't say. As you say it's a suggestion. Who knows?... At least it doesn't always on green algae, because many outdoor pond owners still install an UV light to kill off green algae bloom in their ponds.. Obviously the sunlights UV only doesn't do the job in certain scenarios. But i wouldn't know, i never ever experienced green algae bloom in any of my setups, not outdoor not indoor. Maybe its the UV in combination with??.. :rolleyes: :thumbup:
 
Normal glass basically does not pass UV. Which is why UV equipment uses quartz glass.

This is why the halogen desk lamps (and all halogen lamps) have a single glass sheet in front of the quartz halogen bulb. There were issues, years ago with cheap imported halogen desk lamps with no glass and people suffered sunburn on back of their hands as well as paperwork being bleached.
 
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