3 day blackout , should I leave fuge light on ?

Grkgod36

New member
Started a 3 day black out , should I keep the Refugium Light on ?or off
Some say leave it on to help with ph levels
 
When I did a black out I turned the fuge light on intermittently. I also tested daily to keep track of any changes especially in pH.
 
Also when you guys turned the lights on on the display tank did you just do normal light cycles as before ? Or gradually add whites an 1 hr eod so you didn't shock corals
 
When I blackout my Display, I keep the Fuge lights going on the regular schedule so that the Fuge algae can suck up some nutrients.

I don't think it'll have any negative affect if you're just trying to kill off some pest algae in the Display. If anything, having the Fuge algae remove nutrients will only help starve out the Display algae faster.

Also, if you have Caulerpa in your Fuge, I read that changing the light schedule can cause them to go sexual. Another reason to maintain the Fuge lights.
 
I leave mine on. I don't do lights out either. I have leds and I leave the blues on like normal. The corals stay happy and the zooxanthellae can do photosynthesis with the blue spectrum and the polyps all come out. The nuisance algae can't do photosynthesis as there is no red or white to use and it goes away. It takes longer than 3 days... maybe 5 to 7. But who cares, the corals are still happy!
 
When I blackout my Display, I keep the Fuge lights going on the regular schedule so that the Fuge algae can suck up some nutrients.

I don't think it'll have any negative affect if you're just trying to kill off some pest algae in the Display. If anything, having the Fuge algae remove nutrients will only help starve out the Display algae faster.

+1 ***Also, if you have Caulerpa in your Fuge, I read that changing the light schedule can cause them to go sexual. *** Another reason to maintain the Fuge lights.



+1

Leaving the blue lights on in the DT never got rid of nuisance algae i always had to do a blackout for 3 days (did not cover tank and house lights were on regularly)
 
Not to hijack the thread, but I'm new to this. I read it as a power blackout...But what's this blacking out the display tank?
 
Not to hijack the thread, but I'm new to this. I read it as a power blackout...But what's this blacking out the display tank?

"Blackout" means turning the lights off. "Display" meaning the main or display area (the tank itself). The sump area is usually lit as well for the refugium area for growing macro algae. Its also popular to run your sump lights when the display lights are out (during the night). It helps maintain constant PH. Hope this helps.
 
I'm battling Dino's, so that's why I'm hesitant to leave any lights on even in my fudge .
I'm hitting from all angles , 3 day tottal black out I wrapped the tank in carb board .
I'm running gfo reactor , and using micro bacter 7 beneficial bacteria .

For you guys that have done a black out .
How should I re introduce my led lights ? Should I run only blues for the first day?
Then slowly ad whites in like an hr more every day.

I don't want to shock my sps
 
Not to hijack the thread, but I'm new to this. I read it as a power blackout...But what's this blacking out the display tank?


I read the same thing the same way

This is usually a very clean way of getting rid of nuisance algae or bacteria blooms for example hair algae or cyano instead of filling your tank up with chemicals to get rid of them you turn off the lights in the display tank (for a couple of days) so they die off from not having enough light OP was asking if you need the sump lights to be on and im assuming wanted to know the pros and cons (don't really want to get into the pros and cons read the thread for the answer)

****You have to understand that this is a band-aid it will not solve the problem just make it go away long enough so that you can solve it without a tank crash ***
 
I'm battling Dino's, so that's why I'm hesitant to leave any lights on even in my fudge .

As long as its not in your refugium then you should leave the light on
Are you growing any macro algae

For you guys that have done a black out .
How should I re introduce my led lights ? Should I run only blues for the first day?
Then slowly ad whites in like an hr more every day.

I don't want to shock my sps


How high are your lights if its really high then yes

do the same as when you introduced the sps into your system
 
I'm
Growing cheato ,in the fuge.

My lights are 12 inches from the water ,I have my sps up top .

I think the issue was build up from over feeding . As a precautionary measure I dumped out all my rodi water and changed all the filters and made new water
 
2 1/2 years , this is my first ever any sort or algae out break .

It's a 90 gal tank . 35 gal sump .

Params
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Alk 7
Ph 8.1
Sal 1025
Cal 490
Mag 1500
Temp 78
 
Test for phosphates as well. In doing so they can be tricky because you may get a low result but still have excess phosphates tied up in the algae.

Alk is a little low IMO. Others will likely chime in.
 
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