blackout length without killing coral & nem

Fishward · #1 06-01-2010, 01:27 AM

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 · #2 06-01-2010, 02:16 AM

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

Bryan · #3 06-01-2010, 02:29 AM

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 · #4 06-01-2010, 02:32 AM

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 · #5 06-01-2010, 03:26 AM

3 days was fine on my LTA

#6 06-01-2010, 03:52 AM

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 · #7 06-01-2010, 04:16 AM

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.