impur Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 Just got back from lunch and checking on my tank. I've had the lights off since Tuesday night and won't turn them on until Saturday at noon. The reason i'm trying this is to try and rid the tank of dinos, cyano, and this odd grey web-type of stuff. These started popping up when i got half way thru my bucket of IO. I've been doing frequent large WCs to try and rid the dinos, cyano, and grey web crap. This bucket of IO started off great, ph was 8.3, alk 11.2Dkh, calcium was low at 270ppm but thats fixable. As i used this bucket, i notice more and more bacteria type-algeas. And the tests of the salt got worse and worse. Its now coming out to a pH of 7.9 while the alk and calcium are the same, but the nitrates are off the chart. I'm guess the PO4 is present as well in this salt. I knew I never should have started using it, but at least i have something to melt ice with this winter. So i'm back to Oceanic and having very positive results. For the last 2 months i've maintained a pH of 8.05 at night and 8.35 daytime. My SPS have exploded with growth and color, but my zoas remain half closed all the time and some are melting away. A lot of this has to do with them getting smothered by the dinos/cyano/grey stuff. After trying 2 months of weekly 30-40% WCs, PO4 media, carbon, syphoning, extra skimmer, and more flow with zero results i decided it was time to for drastic measures. The reefs in the ocean have cloudy, stormy days, why not our tanks? So off the lights went. I maintained the same feeding schedule, put mesh bags on my drainlines and added another powerhead. At the end of the day Wednesday i got home and was interested to see how things were doing. I turned on the room light and dropped in some food. Corals and fish all looked fine, the dinos/cyano/grey web stuff were still there in full force. Thursday: Morning there was not as much dinos/cyano/grey web stuff, but definately still there. It had receded on the sand a bit, but just about as much as it normally did overnight. Skimmer cup doubled the amt of skimmate today. When i got home from work i checked things out and the dinos/cyano/grey web stuff are about 50% reduced. I also used the baster to blast the rocks and walls of the tanks plus anywhere i could see remaining dinos/cyano/grey web stuff. Corals look ok, LPS are extening and look fine, SPS show slight PE but not like normal, all zoas closed. Friday: Today i considered turning on just actinics for the day. After peering into the tank this morning i was pleasantly suprised. The dinos/cyano/grey web stuff is about 90% gone. My skimmer cup is almost full after 1 day, it usually takes a week. At lunch i checked out the corals and decided to leave the lights off. Zoas still closed, LPS looking as good as ever, SPS corals have slight PE but have exploded in growth!!!! All my SPS have grown noticably. Plating corals have grown at least 1/4 inch, my milles have new branches, and everything has new axial coralites!!! And the best part, I CAN SEE THE SAND!!!!! (rock2)(rock2) So to finish my plan, tonight after work i'm doing a 20% WC and will turn the actinics on for a couple hours. I'll syphon off the few remaining patches of cyano i can see, and replace the carbon and phoslock. Obviously only time will tell if this worked, but the initial result is very positive. The mesh bags are full of the dying stuff and will be removed, the skimmer has upped its production due to the die off, my corals are all doing great (except for zoas), my clam is fine, fish are fine, and I saved some $$$ on power for a few days (laugh)(laugh) I'll take some pics when the light come on tomorrow for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 You might also think about just turning you main lights on for only 2 hours or so and see how the tank looks with a little light... Glad to hear you are getting this under control...this can be such a frustrating hobby at times... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocboat Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 Good to hear that things are improving. Is there anyone else that has had this problem with IO. I just purchased a 160 gal bucket and have already used about 1/4 of it and think that I will test it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 I think salt settles in the bucket. Not all particles can be the same size, can they? Maybe the Mg, settles below the CA or visa versa. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 9, 2007 Author Share Posted November 9, 2007 Also i forgot to note, my pH has been steady throughout the lights off. 8.05 at night, and the highest i've seen it get is 8.28. The best part is my SPS have grown so much and the crap is gone for now. Also my clam has done just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 Very nice Impur... I did the lights out 3 days a few months ago, and have decided to do it about once every three months just to help keep things clean, its weird how the skimmer goes crazy, only difference is I do not feed the three days, basically do NOTHING, just let ATO keep up what little water evaps and clean skimmer that goes simply crazy. I hope you get you issues sorted, what a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 Very nice Impur... I did the lights out 3 days a few months ago, and have decided to do it about once every three months just to help keep things clean, its weird how the skimmer goes crazy, only difference is I do not feed the three days, basically do NOTHING, just let ATO keep up what little water evaps and clean skimmer that goes simply crazy. I hope you get you issues sorted, what a mess. Nyles I know you were experimenting with this as well...What type of results do you have? Sorry to hijack the thread Miles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 9, 2007 Author Share Posted November 9, 2007 No prob, i think more ppl should know about this. Here is a big thread on RC regarding the same thing http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1078532&perpage=25&pagenumber=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 The tank looked overall "cleaner" brighter and the sand was clean. Dyno's where gone but it did NOTHING for cyano in my case. Other than cyano (and I only had a few very small patches) I like the results, If I remember correctly out of all the stuff in the tank (clams, SPS, zoas) the only small issue was a slight color change on the SPS that soon recovered, and I don't think it was lights but nitrates from another issue that caused it. Overall a great experience and I would do it again with no worries or doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 I may end up trying this, in a couple of months, and see what I come up with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I'd love to try this for the little patches of HA popping up, but am worried about not feeding the fish. The Anthias and Rainford's goby in particular. Miles, did your fish come out to eat in the dark? And did you wrap the tank to get it completely dark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhuru Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I just finished a 2 days lights off + 1 day actinics only. This is my second time doing it and it is 100% effective for me everytime. I also plan to do this every 3 months or so. I saw no adverse effects on my corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 Good to hear that things are improving. Is there anyone else that has had this problem with IO. I just purchased a 160 gal bucket and have already used about 1/4 of it and think that I will test it right now. I bought a box of IO (3 bags, 50 gal each) and am about 1.5 bags through with the box. I am not happy with the results. I also have had a diatom and cyano outbreak, and the little bit of bryopsis that I had in the past has just exploded in growth. There have been several threads on NR about people going a few days without lights to solve a cyano problem. I have kept lights off for a couple of days at a time and have noticed improvement with some types of algae. I don't think it will help with my bryopsis problem. I have put some bryopsis covered rocks in my sump for a month, and I pull them out and there is still wire-like hair all over them... YUCK. I now have a fox-faced rabbit fish in QT, and it has been munching on the bryopsis that I put in there. Maybe it will help clean my tank of this menace. Thank you for sharing your success. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I've been doing this for about five years. It is pretty good. the skimmer will go crazy as the algaes die and release things ack into the water. Some years ago I read a study that said that up to 55 of the algae that died was reusable and made more algae in the tank, so the skimmer pulling that out is great. Sorry i can't find the link. The RC thred is great. For those considering this note that some SPS keepers hae not faired so well with Monti's and Acro's seeming to fair the worse. Many of these cases the pH in the system dropped. JME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mbeef61 Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 anyone do it while letting a fuge light run 24hrs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 10, 2007 Author Share Posted November 10, 2007 Susanne - i turned on the light in the room when i got home from work and left it on for a few hours. I fed the fish about an hour after i got home and they all came out to eat. i didn't wrap the tank completely. But all my windows have covers on them now due to my keys being stolen. I don't think this will work much on HA, i had 2 spots of that on my frag racks and it looks the same, though it did stunt its growth for the time and made it easier to pull out. I turned the actinics on when i got home, fed the fish, adjusted my WC water and started aerating it. My tank looks great. Cyano is still in a couple spots, mainly the lower flow spots and a slight film on the glass in a couple spots. The water is exceptionally clear. My skimmer is still going nuts, and after the lights have been on for an hour or so, everything is opening back up, even my zoas! I have 2 new PPE polyps, thats pretty cool. I'm not concerned about any of the corals, everything looks fine. Dinos are nowhere to be seen. I'm making up a little more WC water, i want to do a slightly larger than normal change to rid any of the dieoff and PO4 that might have leeched back into the water. I'll get better pics tomorrow after the lights come on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 10, 2007 Author Share Posted November 10, 2007 Here are pics from last night. Doing a WC this morning then lights on about 1pm. Check out the new growth! A little still by the glass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 anyone do it while letting a fuge light run 24hrs? I run my refugium 18/7 during the black out periods.Helps to stabalize the pH and let's the macro absorb the nutrients in the water as well. I find with some dark periods macro's do better IME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 12, 2007 Author Share Posted November 12, 2007 An update from today, just got back from checking out my tank on my lunch break. Still no new spots of cyano or dinos. My snails are taking care of a lot of the red turf algae i've had for awhile, i think the darkness weakened it some. All my zoas are opening today save for about 3 or 4 frags. Keep in mind most of my zoas have been closed for the last 2 months straight. So thats big time for me. On top of that, the water is as clear as can be. It looks like my fish are swimming in air, really!!! Its crazy, the clearest i've ever seen my water. I love it I'm so glad i did this, nothing but positives so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 I noticed last night that the purple rim on one of my caps and a couple SPS tips are slightly bleached. I think its due to the increased clarity of the water and going back to full blast on the lights after 3 days of none. I dropped the photo period on the main lights to 6 hrs, actinics still on for 9. I'll raise it 15 min or so a day over the next week to get back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronjunior Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 After reading this and running across a lengthy post on RC, 7 pages later and 30 to go, I'm going to give this a shot. Seems like most have had great results with no ill effect to their corals and anemones. (I now remember why I don't go to RC very often, too many postings). I miss my white sand and hopefully this will bring it back....a cheap option too. I'm debating on whether it's better to turn off the fuge/sump light for the chaeto... I'm thinking that with it being on, spores floating in the tank will be kept alive by the light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 I have noticed a couple patches of cyano popping up the last day or 2. Only in low flow areas. I'll be doing another large WC and syphoning those out. I've also kept the mesh bags on my overflow lines to catch any extra debris, something i didn't ever do before. But dinos are completely gone still, not a trace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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