Jesse Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Have any of you ever did a tank blackout to combat Algae? The saying goes that you leave the lights out and sometimes put a sheet over the tank for 72 hours. This time period won't hurt the coral, but will help kill off unwanted algae. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 23 minutes ago, Jesse said: Have any of you ever did a tank blackout to combat Algae? The saying goes that you leave the lights out and sometimes put a sheet over the tank for 72 hours. This time period won't hurt the coral, but will help kill off unwanted algae. Thoughts? I did it once. Do yourself a favor and remove your light fixture because without the light fixture running it will get damp! I don't think it helped my hair algae situation a couple years ago at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 Just now, Muttley000 said: I did it once. Do yourself a favor and remove your light fixture because without the light fixture running it will get damp! I don't think it helped my hair algae situation a couple years ago at all. I've done it a few times trough the years. I might do it soon to get rid of cyano. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoWaiAma Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Worked for me. Then I addressed the real cause when it came back and I started asking pesky questions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 Just now, NoWaiAma said: Worked for me. Then I addressed the real cause when it came back and I started asking pesky questions The cause is an ignored and neglected tank for a full year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoWaiAma Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Just now, Jesse said: The cause is an ignored and neglected tank for a full year. Yea I don’t know about that. I was referencing my situation, not poking at yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 44 minutes ago, Jesse said: The cause is an ignored and neglected tank for a full year. I think a lot of people miss the huge water changes needed to get the nutrients from the die off out of the tank. Even though it didn’t help me it has worked for a lot of people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 21 minutes ago, Muttley000 said: I think a lot of people miss the huge water changes needed to get the nutrients from the die off out of the tank. Even though it didn’t help me it has worked for a lot of people Yeah this is my battle right now. I'm trying to do everything I can to not use Chemiclean. Just did a 40 gallon water change on a 90 gallon tank which would be the second one in four weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 13 minutes ago, Jesse said: Yeah this is my battle right now. I'm trying to do everything I can to not use Chemiclean. Just did a 40 gallon water change on a 90 gallon tank which would be the second one in four weeks. Is it slowing down for you at all yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 1 minute ago, Muttley000 said: Is it slowing down for you at all yet? Hard to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 4 minutes ago, Jesse said: Hard to tell. It will probably dry up all at once when you finally get the ship turning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surjer Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Have you pulled as much as you can physically? Use a cyphon and just pluck it out as you cyphon for your WC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 3 minutes ago, surjer said: Have you pulled as much as you can physically? Use a cyphon and just pluck it out as you cyphon for your WC? yeah this is exactly what I've been doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Ok reef people. I've been missing in action for a while. Partly because I fished all summer and partly,mostly because of an algae nightmare.here it goes. I want some science involved with this. I have 2 4foot by 2 foot tanks. 10 inches deep. Both share the same sump,filtration, etc. I frag corals and place them in both tanks. Everything is the same. Lighting is on 10 hours. T5s come on for 1.5 hours then less. I ramp down the same way. 1 tank is pristine, the other,covered in heavy hair algae.i run 2 sumps. A 50 gallon with live rock, and a 30 gallon with refugium and chaeto.the rock sump had major algae growing in it. I have since removed that sump from the system. I run a large octopus skimmer wet and a roller mat system . Any ideas. I've torn the problem tank down,steralized everything and placed it back in line just to have the algae go crazy again in this tank only. So here are my parameters. Salinity 33.5 Magnesium 1560 Calcium 593 adjusted the dosing down a hair Dkh 10.3 adjusted a hair also Nitrite 0 ph ultra low hanna tester Phosphates 4 ppb ultra low hanna tester Temp 78 Par 78 ramping up to 180 then back down Manual removal every day of what I can get off the coral. All the sps are growing well and great .color. Softies dont like the algae .looking sad Any ideas fellow reefers? Oh,did the blackout thing. Made things better for a couple days then right back to the nasty stuff again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Fraggenstien Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Are the tanks fed from the same pump? I.e., is the same amount of water from the sump going to each tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Yes, same amount of flow to each. I dont have a flow monitor just valves. They tee off in the middle with the same set up on both. Since I got rid of the live rock, the algae looks to be dying off a bit. But it doesn't really explain the other tank that's good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Here is a pic of the bad tank and good one. I have stored it up a bit.cleaning it out a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 It's crazy bad in the one tank. I have blacked out the window in the room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Lighting? Are bulbs the same type and age? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Yes,both exactly the same. Lol it is really messin with me Muttley. How can the algae grow with no nutrients ? I have a pair of clowns, feed every other day, hand feed 4 nems twice a week. Total volume is about 100 gallons. I am removing algae daily in Hope's that if the algae just cycles off on it's own nutrients. Maybe would explain why I have no readings on nitrate and phosphates. I do have one window that's shaded are drawn. I have blacked out the window thinking maybe natural sunlight could be playing a role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Everything is bare bottom. A few turbo snails as clean up is all. This is why I disappeared!! Lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Algae is probably using it as fast as it enters water. I have come to believe there are certain types of algae that can’t be starved out! You could be leaching phosphates from the rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 I agree. I have removed the rock a couple days ago. Have you used dino x algae x? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley000 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 I used flucon to clear up my issues. It amwas a hard decision, in fact I waited almost 2 years before I decided to try it. If it wouldn’t have worked I would have beached my system and started over. Thank goodness it worked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlet67 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Update on tanks,after removing all live rock from the sump, the problem (algae )dissapeared.i know the pic is blue,but I hope you get the point. Algae x didnt really do the trick for my problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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