Tank light question

[aabjones888]

so during a tank blackout for 3 days to try and help with an algae issue do you keep your refugium light on or off for the 3 days?

 

[slim_santa_chris]

I wouldn't do a black out. I would solve the real problem. lower nitrates and phosphates. work on your system. use Ro/di water. can we see a pic of your tank. maybe it's something specific that's not even an algae.

 

[CamG]

I agree with Slim, The algae will start to grow back after you turn your lights back on if you don't address the source of the problem.
Can you give us a little more info ?
How old is the tank, how many fish, size of the tank, etc.....

 

[cmcoker]

so during a tank blackout for 3 days to try and help with an algae issue do you keep your refugium light on or off for the 3 days?

I'd probably keep the fuge lit, regular cycle.
What kind of algae? What size tank? How long has the tank been running?
If it's just the uglies, it may just need patience.
There are some alternative methods to a blackout, depending on your situation. Manual removal, fluconazole, H2O2, etc.
Let us have some more info.

 

[aabjones888]

Tank is a 80 gallon rimless with a 55 gallon sump. It's got a geo calcium reactor and an octopus skimmer rated for a 150gallon tank.
-2 buckshot clowns
-purple tang
-aptasia eating filefish
-yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp
-yellow clown goby
-warface goby
I put on here a few months back pics of what was happening with my tank. I have a rust looking color algae on rocks and sand. I do biweekly 20% water changes and my parameters are always perfect and in balance.
Alk always 8-9
Cal always between 420-440
Po4 always 0.03-0.05
Po3 always around 5
I use sailfert test kits
Salinity always 1.025-1.026
I put pics on here and someone suggested chemiclean. So I bought it used it and it went away for a few days came back and I did another treatmeant and it seemed like it didn't do as good as the first time. So now I'm to the point where I thought of maybe a blackout for 3 days?

 

[aabjones888]

The tanks been up for close to two years? Maybe? But the rock and sand all came from an original 10 gallon than to a 40 gallon and now to this 80 gallon. I did take out a lot of sand awhile ago so I wouldn't of thought that would of started anything? But donno. I've never had this problem and very irritating.

 

[slim_santa_chris]

run some gfo, carbon and purigin in a few reactors if you can. gfo will help the best. What are you treating it with? I'd do a 15 percent water change every 3 days as well for week or two

 

[slim_santa_chris]

do you have good water flow?

 

[aabjones888]

Ya wavemakers all around, never have had this problem. Been in this hobby for like 10 years and still learning.

 

[cmcoker]

Check supply water for silicates?

 

[aabjones888]

My rodi water has 0 ppm. Does that mean it could still have silicates in it?

 

[cmcoker]

My rodi water has 0 ppm. Does that mean it could still have silicates in it?

It's possible and if your source water is high and this is an ongoing problem, I would check it. Spectrapure make a silicabuster di cartridge that could help.
Rust colored algae sounds diatom-ish ,is thatt what it looks like to you?

 

[aabjones888]

Defintaly rust colored

 

[aabjones888]

Like I said earlier tho, I've never had this problem before, I haven't changed nothing with my rodi unit and it's the same one I've always used. Right when I get a 1 ppm reading from it I change out the filters in it. The filters last a year or so. I've got city water, so they could of changed something in the water? What could of happened to my tank other than silicates?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My rodi water has 0 ppm. Does that mean it could still have silicates in it?

Some possibly, but not generally enough to be a problem. Some people (such as me) dose silicate and do not have a "problem".

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What type of algae? Color? characteristics?

 

[aabjones888]

Don't know forsure what it is, it's rust colored, thought it was red slime, cyano? I've sucked It out through my water changes by vacuuming my sand bed. It just keeps coming back. Seems like it grows on everything. My corals are still growing and doing fine also.

 

[aabjones888]

It's slimmy to the touch

 

[aabjones888]

So I turned the lights back on today and did a 10gallon water change. What's the suggestions on what to do next? Should I do a 5g water change every 3 days for like 12days? Or what? lol I'd like to be done with this algae but it's never easy

 

[Cory]

Its probably cyanobacteria as your ro/di is 0 silicate shouldnt be getting through in appreciable amounts.

Google cyano and diatoms and dinoflagellates and tell me which you got.

If you dont want algae, use an ats/or lots of gfo phosphate remover. Also a clean up crew for the tank.