How long can Magnificas / BTAs survive w/o any light?

[Kinetic]

I'm considering doing a blackout of my tank for 3 days to battle some dinoflagellates, but worried that the magnifica / btas will be in bad shape.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tkieu78]

From my experience mags as soon as they get ****ed off they tend to wander around. Could cause a bigger issue if they detach and float off and possibly have a run in with a Powerhead..... speaking from experience ....


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[hottuna]

Do yourself a favor,Kinetic...before you starve your anemone's for light,start adding chemicals to kill dino's ,etc....get yourself an algae turf scrubber and add it to your system..That dead rock you have in your tank is likely the cause ,could also have excess silicates ....anyway to be safe -hook up a scrubber and let IT pull out whatever is causing the problem...Wouldn't want to see those beautiful nems be adversely affected.

 

[OrionN]

BTA and Magnifica often go sailing when condition is bad. They just let go of the rock and float directly into the PH which is bad news to say the least.

 

[Gig 'em]

As most have already said, as soon as you leave the lights off for more than what the anemones are used to, they'll likely start moving. Have you considered another strategy that won't encourage the anemones to possibly wander into a PH?

 

[davocean]

FWIW I have done the 3 day lights out a few times while having mags, neither time did they wander, but on 3rd day maybe a slight shift, but thats just my exp and I have a pretty good eye on what to watch for, and I did turn off the PH that was close to that side.

Not saying one way or another as to what YOU should do, and I agree it's always a nervy and risky thing, but I do believe most dealing w/ dino's have had to do a lights out to eliminate, so guess just take extra precautions if you do, cover PH's at least.

 

[Kinetic]

Thanks for all the thoughts!

My PH's are all covered (just a gyre with a mesh) and I've had a BTA face plant into it without any issues, so it's been tested.

The dinos were not too bad, but I tried to treat it by trying to grow algae by increasing NO3/PO4 to help outcompete, didn't work and made the dinos get to levels that killed all my SPS frags. So I'm treating with DinoX now. I was considering going lights out for awhile to help the treatment, but the risks probably aren't worth it.

I'll finish treating with DinoX for the 10 days, then throw in a ton of Chaeto and dose PO4/NO3 again. Though my SPS are goners, the anemones seem to be unaffected, so that's a good thing!