AquaticTechTank.net

BBA, Black Beard Algae or Black Brush Algae


Spirogyra Algae, commonly referred to as filament or hair algae






Diatom next to a hair algae yet to be identified


Desmid in the center


This is a form of Blue Green Algae that is really a Cyanobacteria and not algae at all. It grows in long strands and is often confused as hair algae


Other types of cyanobacteria

It's beautiful close up. What model is your microscope? I could use a new one.

It's an Omax brand, I will have to see if I can find the paperwork. You can now buy them with built in cameras like this one: http://www.microscopenet.com/40x1000x-d ... -8889.html Mine is with a separate piece for the camera. I like it because if it ever breaks, you could still use the microscope and replace the camera.

Woweee, you added more shots. They're all beautiful.

I have a hypothesis on the key factors that trigger BBA. It's the large swing of CO2 or low CO2 (20-30ppm) given the high light intensity that triggers the hairy stage. This is the state of most people's tanks I think. My low tech tanks with 15-20ppm CO2 are completely free of BBA.

I created the CO2 sensor and controller to test this out. So far I'm keeping the CO2 constant at 35ppm, I'm still getting a little BBA. I still do my weekly spot treatment. I'm getting a CO2 sensor upgrade soon so I can bump the ppm. I'll shoot for 45ppm next.

Great pictures!

But where's my old buddy Staghorn?

I have some "in stock" right now. If you want a sample, shoot me a PM with shipping address on TPT; I can't find a PM option here.

Roger that, I can PM now.

I'll post more pictures as I go through them. I do have a few of staghorn, but I'd love to have more samples to compare and see other species.

Ok, get shipping address to me if you want it. I may not have it long, my girlfriend has been on a rescaping roll lately

I sent one through this forum. See if it works. In the meantime, more about microscopic algae below:

Desmids are my favorite algae to look at. They are beautiful and very pleasing to read about in my opinion. Here is a great link: http://www.desmids.com/

This is a neat slide. The banana shaped green algae is Closterium. It is eating iron bacteria.


Cosmarium, another desmid


This is iron bacteria. I will post details about it later, but right off a lot of people mistake this as algae, it often looks like stringy or cotton candy brown algae.