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Unread 08/08/2011, 11:39 PM   #7457
Opcn
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Picard, Dominca, Caribbean
Posts: 591
It is at times like this that I remember what my microbial ecology professor would say often. It's called Bradford's law of tolerance and it goes like this: "Everything is everywhere, the environment selects".
If you've got the hair or turf algae on your ATS it got there because your system produced spores that landed and grew on the screen. If you've got spores that will grow on the screen then you already have spores that will grow in the rest of your tank, if the right conditions come to pass. Since those spores aren't growing in the rest of your tank it's safe to assume that the conditions aren't right, so you do not need to worry about seeding from the ATS.

I was not aware of significant portions of tannins being produced by hair and turf algaes of the sort seen on an ATS, mangroves have a bit of a reputation for water yellowing themselves as I understand it. Having read your excellent posts on cryptic zones and duplex sumps I find myself wondering if perhaps a cryptic zone filter could be used to pull those DOCs back out of the water column.


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