Lights out 24/7???

[DNO]

I have had a pretty bad algea break-out and I wanted to turn my lights out in my tank for a week or two. My fish are in my q-tank right know so no fish or corals just live rock, crabs and snails can I do this or should I leave the lights on for a couple hours each day instead of leaving them out 24/7. I think the algae came from using my tap water, I just got my RO/DI unit from Aquatic Reef Systems and it is great so I will start using that water in the future. Thank you all.

[shag26272]

i think that will help but also water changes

[ShipMate]

Make sure you do enough water changes to bring phosphates and nitrate levels down.

[tyoberg]

If you haven't gotten rid of the nutrients that are supporting the algae, it'll be back in 2 weeks.

Do a bunch of waterchanges with the new water and cut back on your feeding. If it's still a problem, then I'd think about shutting off the lights.

Ty

[DNO]

^

[tyoberg]

take a look at some of the hundreds of other algae threads on the board--it's all been covered. you're problem is most likely excess nutrients in the water from overfeeding and/or using low quality water.