No Lights for 3 Days Every Couple of Months Works Wonders!

[djultra]

You are welcome, I will still continue to watch this thread and who knows I may try it again since there where no ill effects from doing this, that I can see, except for not seeing the tank for three days.

[rbursek]

I was getting some Cyno, tried the no lights thing, it works and all fish and corals look okay.
Bob

[DLCanuck]

Originally posted by Aquabucket
Just referring to your light schedule and how your corals get a varied amount of light ~ its quite different than most. Good luck with the 10Ks!

Thank you, I will keep in post. Good luck everyone

[FishboyBT]

so, I can leave on the acntic on for 3 days without the really bright ones and it will kill all of my algae?

[washingtond]

Has anybody tracked the PH & ORP levels during the dark period? If so what numbers did you see.

[Aquabucket]

The only one so who tested ORP levels so far was RobbyG:

Originally posted by RobbyG
The ORP on my tank had been dropping over the last 7 months and I had no idea why. Now I know that the micro Biologics in the Tank had gotten way too high, The 3 days killed off almost all of them and now my ORP is back to between 320 - 400 steady.

I don't know what his ORP was before the black-out but maybe he will chime in soon.

[rbursek]

Atinics where on for about 6 hours a day.
Bob

[rbursek]

PH ussually runs 8.3 durring MH on period, but it dropped to 8.1with no lights on for 3 days, which is IMO was normal durring no light period, since high light period raises PH.
Bob

[zeusfc]

Originally posted by FishboyBT
so, I can leave on the acntic on for 3 days without the really bright ones and it will kill all of my algae?

erm... no!
you can leave your lights off for three days and reduce your algae!

[RobbyG]

Originally posted by Aquabucket
The only one so who tested ORP levels so far was RobbyG:



I don't know what his ORP was before the black-out but maybe he will chime in soon.

My ORP was between 260 - 300 just before and after it averaged about 360 for the first 6 days or so and then went back too an average of about 300.

[Frozn]

Ok, so I'm doing this in my 24g Nano. I have a cyano problem in the front corner and just little patchs of hairs algeas and what not. This seems to be very promising and I see no reason why anything should have ill effects do to the fact that ocean light times, shipping blackouts and just the occasional people going out of town or power outs. Only thing with power outs no filtration which could become a problem.

Besides all that, should i take the cyano out manualy during this period or just see if it goes away? I plan on vacuuming and water change after lights come back on.

[Aaarrrggg]

Tried it, love it!

Reason for Test:
Cyano creeping back after most of it was killed with 'red slime remover'
Also some random algae appearing on the LR and some corals (I was a bit late for a water change after a family emergancy)

What I did:
10% waterchange. 3 days with all lights off (I don't have a sump/refuge) and curtains closed in that room. Ran phosphate remover throughout. Another 10% waterchange after the 3days were up.

Results:
All cyano gone and LR and corals super clean!
Corals all fine (softies)
My only problem was my six-line wrasse disappeared into the darkness, never to return...!
But at least he took my algae/cyano with him... the little trooper.

A couple of weeks on now and the tank is still looking really great!
I'll definitely use this technique again...thanks!

[Aquabucket]

Originally posted by Frozn
Besides all that, should i take the cyano out manualy during this period or just see if it goes away? I plan on vacuuming and water change after lights come back on.

Take as much out manually as you can. This will give you a better chance for it not to return.

Aaarrrggg ~ Thanks for posting your results! Glad it worked for you. That is strange that your wrasse disappeared. Let us know if it turns up.

[RichConley]

Originally posted by RobbyG
Rich I am sorry too hear about your caps and acro's. I wonder what the lights out did, I am sure it was not just photostarvation, must have been some sort of water parameter change. If I was to take bets I would guess your pH went too low.

I'm still thinking Alk, but maybe pH.


I'm moving at the end of the month so everything was probbably going to get killed by my incompatancy anyways. I suck at moving tanks.

As to testing, I almost never test alk because the reactor takes care of it...didnt think it would spike so fast.

[RobbyG]

Alk should not have dropped that fast, but then again who knows this stuff is very experimental.

[invincible569]

its been about a month since I have tried this and my tank went through the green rock algae stage again with brown sand. My tank is only 4 months old. Cyano is also coming back on the sand. Some of my acros didnt like this and one started to RTN. Another experienced reefer locally tried this and he had RTN issues afterwards. Be careful if you have SPS or tank is still new. It was a quick fix, but not a permanent for me. FYI.

[zeusfc]

don't know if it's coincidence but...

my urchins have moved from just going up and down the back glass, to cleaning the rocks! I assume it's because the blackouts have left the back glass pretty clear of algae; certainly not enough to feed four hungry urchins! now they're actually doing the job I got them for; I guess this method may have inadvertantly solved the problem... even though the blackout had little effect on the main problem algae i was suffering, at the time... result!

[dan934]

Great thread. My system is about 5 years old. I've had the occasional algae problem, but usually fairly minor. For the last 4 or 5 months I got a slime algae that covered most of the sand and lower flow areas on the rock. My water parameters have always been pretty good but I probably feed to much. The problem algae started after a long (6 hour) power outage. After recently being away for 10 days, I returned to a real algae problem including hair algae in one corner. The slime was thick enough it actually killed off a few of my smaller SPS corals and was causing problems with a few others. Daily removal of slime algae was futile as it just returned a 3-4 days. Reducing light didn't seem to help. Rather than try chemical treatment (which I have always been against but was pondering due to the serious nature of problem), I decided to try this method.

I have 75G with 33G refugium. I turned off all lights on main display for 3 days. Left the refugium on its normal light schedule. On the 4th day I turned the actinics on and the MH for only 4 hours (usually on for 8). The fish were scared the first day and did not come out to feed but darted out for a while to eat on the 2nd and 3rd days. I did a 15% water change after 3rd day.

Immediately I noticed the same results as others - crystal clear water, corals looked good. One tiny small patch of slime on one base rock but the rest gone. I was able to remove 95% of the hair algae with ease on the last day before lights came back on (previously almost impossible). Back to just coralline algae!

It is now almost 2 weeks since things have been back to normal. No signs of slime algae returning. A bit of hair algae has survived in areas I could not reach. A couple of the previously affected corals seem to be slowly recovering. The only bad thing I can say is that the aiptasias are now taking over where the algae was... boy I missed the copperband, but that is for another thread.

Thanks for sharing this great information and giving me the courage to try something I might not have without this thread.

[skydancer]

Originally posted by dan934
Great thread. My system is about 5 years old. I've had the occasional algae problem, but usually fairly minor. For the last 4 or 5 months I got a slime algae that covered most of the sand and lower flow areas on the rock. My water parameters have always been pretty good but I probably feed to much. The problem algae started after a long (6 hour) power outage. After recently being away for 10 days, I returned to a real algae problem including hair algae in one corner. The slime was thick enough it actually killed off a few of my smaller SPS corals and was causing problems with a few others. Daily removal of slime algae was futile as it just returned a 3-4 days. Reducing light didn't seem to help. Rather than try chemical treatment (which I have always been against but was pondering due to the serious nature of problem), I decided to try this method.

I have 75G with 33G refugium. I turned off all lights on main display for 3 days. Left the refugium on its normal light schedule. On the 4th day I turned the actinics on and the MH for only 4 hours (usually on for 8). The fish were scared the first day and did not come out to feed but darted out for a while to eat on the 2nd and 3rd days. I did a 15% water change after 3rd day.

Immediately I noticed the same results as others - crystal clear water, corals looked good. One tiny small patch of slime on one base rock but the rest gone. I was able to remove 95% of the hair algae with ease on the last day before lights came back on (previously almost impossible). Back to just coralline algae!

It is now almost 2 weeks since things have been back to normal. No signs of slime algae returning. A bit of hair algae has survived in areas I could not reach. A couple of the previously affected corals seem to be slowly recovering. The only bad thing I can say is that the aiptasias are now taking over where the algae was... boy I missed the copperband, but that is for another thread.

Thanks for sharing this great information and giving me the courage to try something I might not have without this thread.

The other thing you could have tried is...
feed less, use RO/DI water (if you don't), use phosban/rowaphos in a reactor to deplete phosphates, ...and have patience...
Remember, what you have set up in you home is a mini eco system, and you should always try to balance it... nothing good happens in this hobby fast...
The reason hair algea was hard to pull out at first was because "something" was feeding it... then the water change..., and no lights... YES it stopped growing... it became weak... and you could pull it out...
So NOW, by doing the "right" thing and not providing food for it again...
...need to say more? ... it won't come back!!!

[dan934]

I do use RO/DI (TDS is 001) and tried Rowaphos on someone's recommendation (P04 shows 0.03 ppm or less on Salifert test). For convenience, I use just RO (no DI) water when adding Coral Builder or Turbo Calcium once or twice a week as the DI is plumbed in just before sump. It is TDS 004. Could a cup or two a week have enough phosphates or silicates to affect the system?

Something else I did not mention which was probably very relevant is that the macroalgae I had in the refugium slowly died off and has not been replaced (about 8 months). This probably allowed nutrients for other algae to take off. I've had success with some forms of caulerpa but they always seem to slowly fade away (sometimes after thriving for a few months)? Can anyone suggest one that would work in my refugium with large crushed coral substrate - no sand for roots. I had Halimeda that grew well but it was depleting my calcium and eventual released a bunch of spores into the water and bleached. Other types I've tried don't seem to grow well. I didn't have anywhere to house an anenome so I put it in my fuge and it has split 3 times... so running out of room for macroalgae which is why I didn't add more. Maybe someone will trade a 6 inch anenome for some macroalgae ...LOL

I agree with cutting back on the feeding, but my fat fish like it sooo much...

[Abynum1]

dan934, what kind of nem is it?

[dan934]

I think they are bubble tip. They are brown with pink tips.

I found a similar one on mdrumm's photo gallery:

[dan934]

Ooops...
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...t=1&thecat=998

[plc001]

After I upgraded from a 90g to a 120g, my new tank became infected with red slime. Not sure why, but it may have been from replacing the DSB. Any how, I tried over skimming, changing the flow, testing for everything and could not get it under control until I tried the 3 day no light period. This was done about a moth ago and none of my inhabitants seem to be affected. Here are some before and after pics:

[RobbyG]

Interesting, I could tell that my corals had been affected but your picture shows more clearly to what degree. How long after did you take the second set?