Lights are not working - Advice

[ReefHog10]

Long story short, 32 gallon biocube with Steves LEDs upgraded lighting - stock hood still on. ~ 2 1/2 years in and things are going well. 5 fish and a good mix of soft, LPS and a few SPS corals (montis and birds nests). Noticed today that lights are not coming on. I've reached out to the light manufacturer but no response so far. I'm leaving in 3 days and will be out of town for the 3 days following so I'm short on time to find a solution. Question is this - how long can I go with no light and the corals be ok? (It is next to a window I can open so it wouldn't be totally dark, but its not direct light by any means). Other question is, If i need to open the hood and put a temporary light over it, what is a quick way to make a screen so I don't have any fish jump out? Thanks in advance!

 

[FUNGI]

you'll be ok.......its not always sunny over a reef

 

[jda]

A few days is OK. I would not go too much longer than that without a temp light.

You can lay some screen or netting material over the top and tape it down, or something - no need to build a frame for it.

 

[MrGisonni]

A few days max, but that natural sunlight may cause an algae bloom.

 

[KandAReefs]

My reef did ok when I lost power for 10 days during a hurricane. I was able to use battery backups for some flow in the tank but the lights never on. Things where stressed and I did not just turn the lights back on fully when the power did come back on. I would be careful with the natural sunlight due to a chance for un wanted outbreak happening.

 

[ReefHog10]

Thanks for everyone’s input. I know 3-4 days are fairly common (in nature and with forced tank black outs) but wasn’t sure if it could go a week. I would assume it would be ok, but that’s a lot to risk on an assumption.