I have done a cyano lights out once before, but I have alot more sps in my tank now. I have no idea why I have had a sudden outbreak, because nothing has changed in my tank, other than maybe ajusting the flow a little. I reajusted the flow again, and today started the 3 days dark cycle. I have heard 3 days dark is not an issue, just looking for reassurance.
Need to go lights out for cyano outbreak, how long can sps be dark?
- Thread starter bamf25
- Start date
Mock
Saltwater Junkie
If you are having cyano problems a three day black out is only going to be a bandaid. You have a problems somewhere. Your chemistry is off, your lights are old and not on a good cycle or you do not have enough flow. Could be one or could be a mixture of the two. More info about your tank is needed to draw any conclusion but never the less a three day dark period shouldn't hurt your corals.
MammothReefer
Active member
Find the source, don't mask the problem. Add some GFO. If you have some, replace it and add more
Reefer1225
New member
Tried 3 day blackout. All SPS survived. Tank, sand, rocks were 90% algae free and everything looked clean. Within 2 weeks it all came back. As everyone else said, just a bandaid. Less feeding and more water changes helped me more.
This is only my second cyano outbreak in 16 months. I am running GAC, GFO (both new 12 days ago), skimming and fuge with cheato. It is a 120g tank with 4 powerheads that move 1400 gph each, plus a 1300 gph return pump (about 800 gph after reactors and head loss) on two sea swirls (so about 400 gph each swirl). Lights are 1 year old LED setup. Tanks was 100% cyano free for months till about 3 weeks ago, I changed nothing. My chemistry is calcium 430, alk 8.7, salinity 1.025, temp 78, ammonia 0, phosphate less than 0.08 (color test I know not the best), and nitate 0 to trace. Curently, my photo period is 8 hours total (8 blue only, 7 full lighting). Now the tank does get some natural sunlight, and despite my best efforts my wife tends to open the shade in that room, I try and keep them closed. I run my lights from 2 pm to 10 PM because I like to actually see my tank and I do works late several nights per week.
jbannick18
New member
3 day blackout won't do anything with natural sunlight hitting the tank, cyano loves it. I have it in the corner of my tank because of a window and I just gave up. I'll stir it up and put it into the water column once a week and it stays pretty contained
I strongly suspect it is a combo of the natural sunlight (really trying to keep that shade closed) and when I reajusted flow a few weeks back, and likely created a dead spot. With the shade close natural light does not hit the tank. You would just not think it would hit it. Tank is inline with widow, but 12 feet away on the other side of the room. Plus, it was not an issue last spring/summer, but I was a fanatic about keeping the shade down. We just redecorated the room., so now the wife keeps opening the shade.
MammothReefer
Active member
Natural light is not the cause. If you don't have nutrients in the water Cyano, and Algae won't grow. My tank gets a ton of sunlight and I haven't had cyano since I stopped using Biopellets and even then it was never bad. Figure out where the phosphates are coming from because if you are getting .08 after a cyano break out it is a lot higher but the cyano is giving you a false "low" due to usage. Run more gfo, check your RO/DI, do some water changes, do a "sweep" on your tank for detritus. Clean all the pumps, sump, etc.. Fix the cause, and the effect will go away.
frankyrivera
FUP&A Member
I love how everyone refers to their wife as "The Wife" lol and their fish as "My Fish".
Ok steps taken
1. 3 day lights out
2. Water change with aggressive vacuuming (main cyano site) of sand and brushed off rocks as best as possible.
3. Pumps were cleaned about 2 months ago, but cleaned skimmer pumps again.
4. Replaced GFO and went from 1 cups to about 1 1/3 cups of gfo in reactor.
5. Ajusted flow to better hit the areas that were having the issue.
Hope that solves the problem. The only other thing I can think of is I tend to be a once per day, but somewhat agressive feeder. I also broadcast feed my corals 3 or 4 times per weeks. I could cut back those amounts. The issue was almost entirely on the sand, the rocks and glass are relatively algae free.
BTW, back to the original question, corals seem fine. Lights will come on in about 4 hours.
1. 3 day lights out
2. Water change with aggressive vacuuming (main cyano site) of sand and brushed off rocks as best as possible.
3. Pumps were cleaned about 2 months ago, but cleaned skimmer pumps again.
4. Replaced GFO and went from 1 cups to about 1 1/3 cups of gfo in reactor.
5. Ajusted flow to better hit the areas that were having the issue.
Hope that solves the problem. The only other thing I can think of is I tend to be a once per day, but somewhat agressive feeder. I also broadcast feed my corals 3 or 4 times per weeks. I could cut back those amounts. The issue was almost entirely on the sand, the rocks and glass are relatively algae free.
BTW, back to the original question, corals seem fine. Lights will come on in about 4 hours.
Similar threads
