blackout length without killing coral & nem

[Fishward]

hey all,
im in the middle of a blackout to try to kill off my dino problem (in tandem with daily 10% WC).. any thoughts on how long i can keep it up without killing my corals or my GBTA? should i dose my lights back gradually over a week or so after? add an hour every day?

[Skimmerking]

i have seen 3 days with a complete black out and full of corals

[Bryan]

I did 3 days once with no lights and a blanket over the tank, no problems. Fish seemed a bit spooked when the lights went back on, but then so would I !!.

[reef bound]

I did a blackout for 3 full days with no ill effects on my corals or fish, however I did not have a nem. I added about an hour of lights each day for a week then went back to normal. This was done in a red sea max (34g) and no water changes until the 3 days was done. I was unsure if I had dinos or red slime algae and this took care of the issue, so was still unsure. (Didn't treat with anything-- just no lights)
I believe niloc16 had done something like this a couple years ago and when his dinos died it gave his tank a bit of a crash. Might be worth looking back in the archives here to check it out. Hope it helps.

[banditpowdercoat]

3 days was fine on my LTA

[bvlester]

3 to 4 days is all I would do as the Nem will have the hardest time. residual light does not give algae enough light to grow but that is if it is in a basement with very limited light. When you start your lights back up use the itinics only for the first week 2 hrs on 2 hours off 2 on 2off then add a 2on and 2off the second and third days. Let it run that way for a week then add in 1 10k on for 2 hours for 3 days then 2 10k's for the rest of the week on for 2hrs only the third week you can increase the itinics to 3 hrs on 1 off I would see how that works and adjust the lightings. I had to do this for 2 months to get ride of my algae problems that came about from a digital timer being wired backward. The fish didn't like it at first but they adjusted and then it didn't seem to bother them. Remember a storm on the open oceans of the world can last for days and weeks if there are several in a row. Also with the lighting I am assuming you are this is for T5 HO lights it should work for MH and T5 or MH and PC.

Bill

[mark]

After hearing how resilient different pests and algea can, be wonder how effective a simple blackout would be. Never had a dino problem but probably my focus would be more toward limiting nutrient into the tank plus nutrient export as would think once the lights back on, the dino would be back unless one got to the root cause.

[Bloodasp]

I would agree. Somehow after much thought about this thing pest algaes are far more resilient than your precious coral and would live through a blackout no matter how long it might be. All that would happen is they would stop growing when the lights are off and just grow in significant amounts once the lights are on.

As far as blacking out lights though. I would think corals are capable of surviving for quite a significant amount of time. I've lives in the tropics for a significant amount of time and during typhoon season it is not uncommon to have typhoons that last as long if not longer than a week at a time without the sun peeking out even once 20+ times a year. And if it wasn't for human intervention this coral reefs would still be thriving.

[bvlester]

When I did a blackout I did not wrap my tank up so no light would get in. But there was a die back of the HA and my hermits eat very well in that time. Once they reach a decent size they kept the HA down to 0 in the tank there is always going to be roots and HA will grow if algae eating inverts and snails are removed. But that is why they are in our tanks in the first place to clean up what we do not want in the tank. So this is what I did reduced HA so there was next to none and let the cleanup crew do there job. When Hermits die off replace what dies off or was eaten by larger hermit. This has kept my tank nice and clean I also have a fuge in my sump which helps remove the phosphates.
Bill

[Funky_Fish14]

I bet you could prolong the blackout time by feeding your corals plentifully during the period. (Like phyto, zooplankton, and say mysis or krill to the nem). Corals feed a lot in the wild and in captivity we rely mostly on the light to take care of their energy and nutrient needs.

Comments?

Cheers,

Chris

[bvlester]

my tank gets extra zoo plankton, and say mysis rotifers after lights out just for the corals. I hand feed the Nems shrimp west coast cough and bought from Steveston dock so they are fresh and full of nutrients unlike the one you buy from the stores they have been washed and cut in many cases and any eggs have been stripped from them not the one from Steveston docks. they are fresh and if they have eggs then they go in also fish like them too. I do take the shell off them but other wise I include everything my nems are spoiled they don't et the shrimp as redily with the shell on.

Bill