[drstupid]

i'm very glad to have discovered this thread.

i had a dino problem over the winter, and phosban got rid of it. i recently changed my closed loop so it has two 1" penductors slamming into the back of the rocks, the turnover is great but it's really bringing up a lot of stuff that was trapped in the interior of the rockwork. dinos all over again, just in time for a friend to give me a pile of corals to hold for him while he moves/changes tanks.

i've tried repeated changes, fresh phosban, a magnum 350 full of hydrocarbon, upped the fuge light cycle, aggressive skimming, fresh prefilters on the RO/DI unit.... the dinos just keep getting worse, and the new corals are definitely suffering. so, i'm trying an extended lights-out period under the theory it may kill a few of the stressed ones, but the dinos definitely will if i can't get this bloom under control.

is 48 hours sufficient? or should i go for 72? i'm tempted to just keep it going until i break the back of the dinos.

i put a fresh bucket of kalk topoff in place, so even with adjusting the calcium reactor to the increased load, it should keep the PH up (just under 8 now after 16 hours with no lights).

it's also time for a MH bulb change, but i'm going to wait a couple more weeks on that.

i agree this is a crutch move, and the ideal would be to identify and correct the underlying nutrient problem, but i feel a need to take corrective action now.