Question about lights out for algae problem

[Janh]

I am going to try leaving the lights off for three days to clear up my algae problem. It seems as though I have a little bit of hair algae and bubble algae, but the cyano is starting to over run my tank. I clean it out and it is back in under an hour.

Does leaving the lights out work for cyano since it is a bacteria and not an algae?

Do I need to actually cover the tank so no light gets at it at all (for example when I have the house lights on and they illuminate the tank somewhat)?

Will the fish and other critters be ok without food for 3 days?

Should I still be trying to clean out the cyano while the lights are out, or just leave it alone?

 

[89Foxbody]

I have been wondering this as well, I'm nervous about 3 days of no light considering how many corals are in my tank.

 

[Janh]

I passed nervous a long time ago, now I am just mad.

 

[peppie]

Your corals will think it has been cloudy the past few days.

Your fish dont need the light. But why would you stop feeding?

I have done lights out for three days a couple of times. No ill effects to the corals.

How is the flow in your tank?

How old is your tank?

What are your water parm.?

We need much more info.

Do you have a sump?

Do you use a skimmer?

How old are the bulbs on your lights?

Are you dosing? If so what?

Drapping the tank is not needed IMO

 

[Janh]

I thought the idea behind getting rid of algae was to starve it out, by keeping the lights off and eliminating nutrients, thats why I was going to stop feeding.

Flow in the tank could be better, how does that eliminate algae? I thought algae came because of nitrates and phosphates and excess nutrients and lighting?

Bulbs are about 3 months old, tank is about 6 months old (36 gallon).

No sump, I run a hob with carbon and phosguard and a protein skimmer. Water parameters are all normal, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia 0, salinity 1.025, ph 8.1, temp 80, alk 8, phos need a kit, calcium 400.

Weekly water changes - 5 gallons.

 

[sporto0]

Ok, how big is your tank? How many fish & what species? How often & what do you feed? Lights out will help starve out algae & Cyano Bacteria, (it does require light), the only problem is, it will return when the lights come on, sometimes if a tank is brand new, which yours is not (just past the cut off), the lack of light will eradicate Cyano, since it is a common occurrence in a new set up. You must find the nutrient source to effectively rid yourself of nuisance algae & bacteria.

 

[Janh]

The tank is 36 gallon, there is only one fish in there, the high fin cardinal. I feed frozen food once a day and only what the fish eats, nothing more. I add about 8 drops of the microvert once a week for the feather dusters and corals. The bottle says to add one to 3 drops per gallon 3 times per week, but I do not have a lot of stuff in the tank so that seemed like way too much. Everything in there is growing rapidly and seems healthy. What else could be a nutrient source?

 

[wbdevers]

Lights out will be fine. Not feeding will be fine as well especially since you only have 1 fish. It will NOT starve so don't worry. Agree with not hooding. The ambient light is negligible. Higher flow helps keep detritus stirred up so that it can be removed. Everything that goes into a tank can be a nutrient source. Whatever is eaten is excreted etc. How long are your lights normally on? You could also reduce your lighting period by a couple of hours after you beat the algae to help reduce flare ups.

 

[sporto0]

Well, I must first commend you, 1 fish & nominal feeding is the proper way to go. I would stop the microvert feeding for a few weeks, maybe a month, most corals & filter feeders do fine with what they can extract from the light & water column. This may in fact help clear up the Cyano & other nuisance algae. If you could post a pic, that would be most helpful.

 

[Janh]

I don't really know how long lights are supposed to be kept on for, I used to put them on around 6 am and off again at 9 pm, but that seemed to long and some algae came so I shortened it to 9 am to about 8 pm. Maybe this is still too long?

I will cut out the microvert feeding for a while and see if this helps? I also add a concentrated vitamin and amino acid supplement once a week, about a 1/2 a capful. Bottle says to use one capful per 20 gallons twice a week. Should I cut this out too?

 

[sporto0]

I don't really know how long lights are supposed to be kept on for, I used to put them on around 6 am and off again at 9 pm, but that seemed to long and some algae came so I shortened it to 9 am to about 8 pm. Maybe this is still too long?

I will cut out the microvert feeding for a while and see if this helps? I also add a concentrated vitamin and amino acid supplement once a week, about a 1/2 a capful. Bottle says to use one capful per 20 gallons twice a week. Should I cut this out too?

Janh, do you have a phosphate tester? I would test the vitamin & amino acid supplement in fresh RO/DI water & see if there are phosphates present, if not, it won't hurt to dose those, although I've read in the past that they consist mostly of sugar water, but I don't want to cast aspersions upon anything without first trying it. For what it's worth, I run my MH bulbs 12 hours a day & my actinics stay on for 13.5 hours a day & I don't have any nuisance algae, just film algae on the glass, but that is the trade off for keeping the tank lit for that long.

 

[hollister]

For better advice more tank specs would help.

Good water flow and ro water could be a source as with being to close to a window or out side light source or water temp. or feeding habits or a lid on the tank or bio balls or ect. ect.

 

[sporto0]

For better advice more tank specs would help.

Good water flow and ro water could be a source as with being to close to a window or out side light source or water temp. or feeding habits or a lid on the tank or bio balls or ect. ect.

Good water flow will only help, RO/DI water is optimal, light is only one part of the equation. Lid on the tank? Bio-balls? These on their own will not cause Cyano.

 

[wbdevers]

Outside light is a myth for algae. If it caused algae every reef on the planet would be covered in it. Spectral shift of older bulbs can contribute to algae but algae must have nutrients to grow and that is the root of all algal problems.

 

[hollister]

I agree that it could be multiple issues but with so little info its hard to say.

 

[sporto0]

Outside light is a myth for algae. If it caused algae every reef on the planet would be covered in it. Spectral shift of older bulbs can contribute to algae but algae must have nutrients to grow and that is the root of all algal problems.

Truth.

 

[Sk8r]

Cyano, however, feeds on carbon, water, and light, only one of which can be safely denied in a marine tank. So it responds very well to lights-out.
COupled with your lights-out, make sure your skimmer is operating well. That's how you get the crud out.
For more info, poke the blue number under my avatar and read the entry labeled ALGAE.

 

[Janh]

Thanks for all the info, after 24 hours of lights out almost all of the cyano that was on the sand (entire sand bed covered) seems to be gone. Not sure about the rocks, but I am sure it is disappearing from there also. I will keep the lights out for two more days and see what happens.

 

[disc1]

Outside light is a myth for algae. If it caused algae every reef on the planet would be covered in it. Spectral shift of older bulbs can contribute to algae but algae must have nutrients to grow and that is the root of all algal problems.

Truth.

Truth.

Old bulbs will favor an outbreak, but the CAUSE of the outbreak is the nutrients. In a tank with well controlled PO4 and NO3 levels, no amount of sunlight is going to create an algae outbreak.

Also be aware that when you kill cyano with lights out, you are only half done with the battle. All of the nutrients that were tied up in the cyano and causing you to read 0 on your PO4 test are going right back into the water once the cyano dies back. So you need to couple this with water changes and nutrient export after the lights come back on to remove those nutrients or the cyano will come right back on you.

 

[Janh]

I was just going to ask about water changes because of the algae die off. How much water should I change out when the lights come back on?