let me apologize in advance for this long post...
mkawayoshi, yep...a couple months w/o light would be like starting over
tekknoschtev, your post doesn't come off harsh to me one bit...we all want a solution to this stuff! whats scares me is that you also had a fuge at the time the scourge took over. i hope adding chaeto does something to starve it out. what other macros are you using?
all 3 tank blackouts included covering the entire tank (sides and top) with dark blankets/sheets/sleeping bags for 30hrs. i mean absolutely NO light was able to get in. my family hated that process bc the tank looked like a huge coffin!!
perhaps that wasn't long enough and i should shoot for a 48hrs next?
after 5-7 days (slowly ramped up lighting in 30min increments), a light dusting would start to reappear on the sb. at that point i backed off the lighting, but it didn't matter bc this stuff grows in ambient room lighting.
so i resorted to the chemiclean process when the stuff really built up. each chemi-clean treatment did work to loosen/breakup the heavier growths but after a few days, the dusting reappeared. and once the dusting was there...i felt defeated.
during the last 7 months i've been rotating 100micron filter socks 2-3times a week. been changing out 3 cups of carbon weekly. i skim wet with a pair of euro 8-2's and keep ozone at 390-400mv. i can't get much more flow as the sand gets kicked around already at times. i don't have a heavy fish load. the water is crystal clear. the sps corals are colorful and encrusting.
so now i'm trying to use a somewhat more natural attack of a deeper (3") sb and macros. i'll be adding some kind of sandbed critters too...anyone got some recommendations?
regarding the zeo/prodibio route...practically every system i've seen is spotless of algae
(except coralline) but the zeo costs too much for me based on 300g of water.