Re: Battling BGA

[George Booth <booth at lvld_agilent.com>]

Many people seem to think that water circulation is one of the keys to 
eliminating BGA. Based on anecdotal evidence, I would discount that. Our tanks 
have trivial amounts of BGA and it occurs in the trickle filter skimmer box 
(water swirling and cascading around) and the trickle filter siphon tube (!). If 
good circulation ("water movement") prevents BGA, these two areas would be the 
last places I would expect to find it. 

In the past we *have* noticed BGA forming among dense floating plants and at the 
interface between the glass and front gravel, leading to a suspicion that BGA 
likes areas of no water movement. But is seems like it must be something else. 
Perhaps an area rich in nitrates (or some form of nitrogen) combined with high 
light might be a cause. Areas on the surface would have access to atmospheric 
oxygen, especially in the skimmer where lots of mixing is possible and it is 
close to the lights. The area in the gravel near the glass might have high 
nitrates due detritus caught there and little circulation to remove it. The 
glass can channel light down there making it also pretty bright.

Just some thoughts, little real data.  

George Booth in Ft. Collins, Colorado (booth at frii_com)
  http://www.frii.com/~booth/AquaticConcepts

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