UV is killing beneficial bacteria ... contributing to gha growth

[clown99]

The question now is which is the best beneficial bacteria to add for 1year 9month old 29g tank?
I added the UV about 3 months ago. GHA was non-existent, a few strands here and there. Nitrates were 1-2ppm, phosphates 0.01 - 0.03ppm. I started seeing GHA growth increasing and have been scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide at weekly water changes, killing 1 small alveopora. In the past few weeks, nitrates were near zero (~0.2), phosphate also near undetectable with Hanah test (0.00 or 0.01).
So I'm concluding that the imbalance in GHA favor must be caused by the UV killing the beneficial bacteria.

 

[austibella]

The question now is which is the best beneficial bacteria to add for 1year 9month old 29g tank?
I added the UV about 3 months ago. GHA was non-existent, a few strands here and there. Nitrates were 1-2ppm, phosphates 0.01 - 0.03ppm. I started seeing GHA growth increasing and have been scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide at weekly water changes, killing 1 small alveopora. In the past few weeks, nitrates were near zero (~0.2), phosphate also near undetectable with Hanah test (0.00 or 0.01).
So I'm concluding that the imbalance in GHA favor must be caused by the UV killing the beneficial bacteria.

i have been wondering that myself if my UV is killing beneficial bacteria, but then i do shut the UV off for several hours when i add beneficial bacteria to my tank plus i have an octopus 120R bio churn , and bacteria stays on the rocks but i do wonder how much gets killed from the UV.

 

[austibella]

The question now is which is the best beneficial bacteria to add for 1year 9month old 29g tank?
I added the UV about 3 months ago. GHA was non-existent, a few strands here and there. Nitrates were 1-2ppm, phosphates 0.01 - 0.03ppm. I started seeing GHA growth increasing and have been scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide at weekly water changes, killing 1 small alveopora. In the past few weeks, nitrates were near zero (~0.2), phosphate also near undetectable with Hanah test (0.00 or 0.01).
So I'm concluding that the imbalance in GHA favor must be caused by the UV killing the beneficial bacteria.

i use MicroBial culture but i think they are all probably good. i have used several different ones Dr Tims and Vibrant i switch off.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

The question now is which is the best beneficial bacteria to add for 1year 9month old 29g tank?
I added the UV about 3 months ago. GHA was non-existent, a few strands here and there. Nitrates were 1-2ppm, phosphates 0.01 - 0.03ppm. I started seeing GHA growth increasing and have been scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide at weekly water changes, killing 1 small alveopora. In the past few weeks, nitrates were near zero (~0.2), phosphate also near undetectable with Hanah test (0.00 or 0.01).
So I'm concluding that the imbalance in GHA favor must be caused by the UV killing the beneficial bacteria.

Have you noticed any ammonia present in the tank?

 

[NeptuneRjo]

The majority, if not all, of the beneficial bacteria lives in rock, sand, and any biological media. Very little floats in the water column.

If you believe the UV sterilizer to be the problem, try shutting it off for a few weeks while continuing the same processes you're currently doing. If GHA continues to grow you can assume that there are other problems.

It's also safe to assume that GHA is a sign that there is beneficial bacteria present, as the algae consumes nitrates and phosphates, and the former would not be sustainable for a large GHA population without a good supply from bacteria.

If you do decide to add bacteria shut off your uv for a few days to allow the bacteria to settle.

Hope this helps.

 

[Oropher]

The majority, if not all, of the beneficial bacteria lives in rock, sand, and any biological media. Very little floats in the water column.

If you believe the UV sterilizer to be the problem, try shutting it off for a few weeks while continuing the same processes you're currently doing. If GHA continues to grow you can assume that there are other problems.

It's also safe to assume that GHA is a sign that there is beneficial bacteria present, as the algae consumes nitrates and phosphates, and the former would not be sustainable for a large GHA population without a good supply from bacteria.

If you do decide to add bacteria shut off your uv for a few days to allow the bacteria to settle.

Hope this helps.

+1 to @NeptuneRjo

Bacteria would live on and in substrate/rock. Only small portion in water column. But during dosing new bacteria, the would be in the water column until they are settled on substrate. Turn off UV and Skimmer.

Setting flowrate for UV, you can watch brstv:

 

[blasterman]

The majority, if not all, of the beneficial bacteria lives in rock, sand, and any biological media. Very little floats in the water column.

+100

 

[clown99]

Have you noticed any ammonia present in the tank?

I'm not sure because I don't test for ammonia.

 

[clown99]

I've ordered MicroBacter7 and stopped the UV.

 

[ca1ore]

Correlation is not causation. There are plenty of folks that run UV who do not have a GHA problem and plenty of folks that do not run UV that do have a GHA problem. I would say the two are unrelated.