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So I thought this topic would make a great discussion for us!
I've never been one to "black out" my tank. I've tried it a couple of times for a couple different reasons but never stuck with it. To be honest I've not been a huge believer in it. Sorry and maybe that's changing!
That being said for the past couple months I have had an outbreak of a green algae, not hair, not slime or anything like that but a really dark green algae that doesn't cover corals but covers the rocks and sand. Tried a couple different algae "medications" to no avail.
It also blows right off with a turkey baster and blows into a ton of tiny particles but comes right back. Here is my thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/green-cyano-type-algae.527256/
Here is the algae under a microscope:
This photo was taken well over a month ago and it has only gotten a lot worse since! The algae is actually way more green than the photo shows.
Ok fast forward to last Sunday. I arrived home from the Fl Frag Swap, great show btw, and my in-line frag tank was totally covered in this algae and just being overrun. So I decided to try lights out! I also decided to buy a new cleanup crew but until they arrived I would try lights out.
Yesterday, Wednesday, I checked the frag tank and the tank was clear! Like totally clear. So I turned the lights back on schedule for the frag tank and turned the lights OFF for the main display to see what would happen.
Today, one day later, the main tank looks a ton better with the algae started to release on it's on.
Check out the video:
Then I noticed that the skimmer was producing some really nasty GREEN waste see the video!
So I am not sure how all this will end but it did get me to thinking that maybe there is more to this "lights out" on algae theory, or at least certain types of algae. Which leads me to my question for you.
Have you ever tried the "lights out" or "black out" method and did it work for you?
I've never been one to "black out" my tank. I've tried it a couple of times for a couple different reasons but never stuck with it. To be honest I've not been a huge believer in it. Sorry and maybe that's changing!
That being said for the past couple months I have had an outbreak of a green algae, not hair, not slime or anything like that but a really dark green algae that doesn't cover corals but covers the rocks and sand. Tried a couple different algae "medications" to no avail.
It also blows right off with a turkey baster and blows into a ton of tiny particles but comes right back. Here is my thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/green-cyano-type-algae.527256/
Here is the algae under a microscope:
This photo was taken well over a month ago and it has only gotten a lot worse since! The algae is actually way more green than the photo shows.
Ok fast forward to last Sunday. I arrived home from the Fl Frag Swap, great show btw, and my in-line frag tank was totally covered in this algae and just being overrun. So I decided to try lights out! I also decided to buy a new cleanup crew but until they arrived I would try lights out.
Yesterday, Wednesday, I checked the frag tank and the tank was clear! Like totally clear. So I turned the lights back on schedule for the frag tank and turned the lights OFF for the main display to see what would happen.
Today, one day later, the main tank looks a ton better with the algae started to release on it's on.
Check out the video:
Then I noticed that the skimmer was producing some really nasty GREEN waste see the video!
So I am not sure how all this will end but it did get me to thinking that maybe there is more to this "lights out" on algae theory, or at least certain types of algae. Which leads me to my question for you.
Have you ever tried the "lights out" or "black out" method and did it work for you?