Can a 3 day blackout cause issues?

[BuddyBonButt]

Before I start, I would like to say I kind of hate using the word emergency here but it is time sensitive and blackout as in controlled, not a power outtage

In my tank I have a very big Dino outbreak. I did a massive clean last night of siphoning the sand and cleaning off the rocks and glass. The tank looked like it was literally glowing afterwards.

This morning I got cardboard to completely wrap around the tank to do a 3-day blackout hopefully killing off a lot of the dinos. In my tank I have:
4 cleaner shrimp
1 urchin
3 snails
2 conch
1 neon goby.

No coral and my other fish are at my lfs getting treated for a bacterial infection. Long story not important.

Last night and this morning and a week leading up to this I've been feeding extra to get my fish a little fat. Could a 3 to 5 day blackout stress them to death? Or should the fish and inverts be okay? It just seems like a really weird thing to do and I'm not entirely sold on the idea

 

[Reefer Matt]

Before I start, I would like to say I kind of hate using the word emergency here but it is time sensitive and blackout as in controlled, not a power outtage

In my tank I have a very big Dino outbreak. I did a massive clean last night of siphoning the sand and cleaning off the rocks and glass. The tank looked like it was literally glowing afterwards.

This morning I got cardboard to completely wrap around the tank to do a 3-day blackout hopefully killing off a lot of the dinos. In my tank I have:
4 cleaner shrimp
1 urchin
3 snails
2 conch
1 neon goby.

No coral and my other fish are at my lfs getting treated for a bacterial infection. Long story not important.

Last night and this morning and a week leading up to this I've been feeding extra to get my fish a little fat. Could a 3 to 5 day blackout stress them to death? Or should the fish and inverts be okay? It just seems like a really weird thing to do and I'm not entirely sold on the idea

You can turn the lights on to feed your fish, then turn them off again. Understand that it will not be one and done. Multiple blackouts will need to happen as the dino comes back. Also, if the dino goes away with a blackout, a uv sterilizer will help keep it away.

 

[BuddyBonButt]

You can turn the lights on to feed your fish, then turn them off again. Understand that it will not be one and done. Multiple blackouts will need to happen as the dino comes back. Also, if the dino goes away with a blackout, a uv sterilizer will help keep it away.

Yeah, problem is I'm trying to figure out which Dino I truly have. One guy said I have amphidinium and another said prorocentrum. One not caring about blackouts and the other caring a lot, I did use a microscope but to me it looks like prorocentrum. But at night my tank does seem slightly cloudier so I'm going to assume it is a migrating strain.

I'm honestly not too concerned for my cleaner shrimp because I've seen them hunt in the dark but the goby is what I'm concerned about. And the conch and urchin. I don't really know what to feed them.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Yeah, problem is I'm trying to figure out which Dino I truly have. One guy said I have amphidinium and another said prorocentrum. One not caring about blackouts and the other caring a lot, I did use a microscope but to me it looks like prorocentrum. But at night my tank does seem slightly cloudier so I'm going to assume it is a migrating strain.

I'm honestly not too concerned for my cleaner shrimp because I've seen them hunt in the dark but the goby is what I'm concerned about. And the conch and urchin. I don't really know what to feed them.

You can feed the tank as normal by turning on the lights, then off again when done. It will not affect the blackout.

 

[Abarge16]

Not sure if this is relevent here but, I started to have dinos appearing only on my live rock so i took out all of my live rock and scrubbed all of it with a hard bristle brush like really scrubbed this stuff until nothing came off anymore rinsed in fresh saltwater and then did a 3 day blackout and its been all clear since then.

 

[BuddyBonButt]

You can feed the tank as normal by turning on the lights, then off again when done. It will not affect the blackout.

Alright, I gotta find a uv I can afford thats big enough for my tank. Reducing turnover from 650gph to 150gph just isn't an option

 

[BuddyBonButt]

Not sure if this is relevent here but, I started to have dinos appearing only on my live rock so i took out all of my live rock and scrubbed all of it with a hard bristle brush like really scrubbed this stuff until nothing came off anymore rinsed in fresh saltwater and then did a 3 day blackout and its been all clear since then.

Yeah, I'd LOVE to do this but literally isn't possible. I've got about 40 lb in there that's all woven together. If I remove any of them they're not going back together. In hindsight I wish I hadn't done such a ridiculous scape. I mean it looks good but makes maintenance impossible lol

 

[Manny D. Mandarin]

What are you water parameters- have you tried dosing anything to out compete the dinos?

 

[BuddyBonButt]

What are you water parameters- have you tried dosing anything to out compete the dinos?

Yeah, it was 0 nitrate 0 phosphate. I've dosed nëonitro and nëophos to 10 ppm and 0.06 ppm respectively. I've added copapods too. Been dosing phytoplankton and aquavitro remediation accordingly. If you have any other ideas on what I should put in my tank, I'm am all ears.

 

[Idech]

I have (or had ?) prorocentrum and UV doesn’t do much to it. At least not mine. I dosed silicate for 2-3 weeks, then raised both nitrates and phosphates as they hit 0 and did a 3 day black-out. I also used Microbacter 7 and phyto.

Fast forward 2 weeks later, I seem to have mostly diatoms. I see my snails eating it. I am still dosing silicates because I know these things take time. I will probably keep dosing them once a week as part of my routine, for a while.

 

[Abarge16]

Yeah, I'd LOVE to do this but literally isn't possible. I've got about 40 lb in there that's all woven together. If I remove any of them they're not going back together. In hindsight I wish I hadn't done such a ridiculous scape. I mean it looks good but makes maintenance impossible lol

Yeah it was heartbreaking for me because I ended up dismantling my scape to do so. But im glad I did in the end I found out I like having a little less rock then what I started out with. Used the rock I removed to make what I call the banishment bucket where all the crabs now live until I make it to the lfs

 

[BuddyBonButt]

I have (or had ?) prorocentrum and UV doesn’t do much to it. At least not mine. I dosed silicate for 2-3 weeks, then raised both nitrates and phosphates as they hit 0 and did a 3 day black-out. I also used Microbacter 7 and phyto.

Fast forward 2 weeks later, I seem to have mostly diatoms. I see my snails eating it. I am still dosing silicates because I know these things take time. I will probably keep dosing them once a week as part of my routine, for a while.

Oh yeah, I forgot. I added silica to my cart from BRS and never hit order. Thank you for reminding me. But good to know I'll keep that in mind

 

[BuddyBonButt]

Yeah it was heartbreaking for me because I ended up dismantling my scape to do so. But im glad I did in the end I found out I like having a little less rock then what I started out with. Used the rock I removed to make what I call the banishment bucket where all the crabs now live until I make it to the lfs

The banishment bucket, I love it. I hastily set up a quarantine tank with the ideas that I had velvet in my tank. Woke up to a randomly dead fish, a fox face that was eating happily the day before. Turns out, I had recently put in a UV sterilizer and it required I lowered the turnover rate, I forgot to turn the skimmer back on and with the reduce flow and zero oxygen being added, when my fox face got in a territory scuffle with my Sapphire damsel, it must have suffocated. This caused me to remove my damsel stressing out my clownfish causing them to get a bacterial infection. Now they're at the lfs giving me an ample time to do a deep clean. It was such an emotional roller coaster.