How many days can I go without light?

[pumpdogs]

I have a hair alage problem.I took out some small pieces of rock and scrubbed them down.I placed these pieces in my refugium and the hair alage has not grown back.I was thinking of scrubbing the rest of my rock and keeping the lights off a few days.How many days do you think I can get away with.This not the kind of hair alage that can survive without light.

[MayoBoy]

3 is safe for my tank. I've never tried longer.

[snulma1]

I think it would depend on what else you have in the tank! But I think Mayo has it right, 3 is about the most I would do.

[SDguy]

Not the way to go about dealing with your HA problem.

You need to export nutrients more/better. What's your setup like? Skimmer? Flow?

Reducing light is just going to stress your corals and do nothing for the long term solution of a HA problem.

[pumpdogs]

I have a 55 gal refuge with chaeo plus a asm g4 on my 180 gal.I use ro/di.All filters on my r0/di are only a month old.I have rock in my 75 gal sump with no hair alage and rock in my 55 gal refuge with no hair alage.This telling me that no light will kill it.I got this alage from somebody elses tank.

[davocean]

I did 3 days, and wrapped tank w/ a sheet to completely block all light.
This gives that extra boost after you have just done everything to rid source and totally kill it off.
I think it was Melev that I read shuts light off for a day once in a while to help keep in check.
Even reefs get cloudy days.
It did work for me.

[clekchau]

sdguy, i have one of the most efficent skimmers made and i still have an algae problem cyano not hair though. at this point leaving the lights off 3 days seems to be the next step.

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9747012#post9747012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davocean

This gives that extra boost after you have just done everything to rid source and totally kill it off.


Seeing as the OP hasn't mentioned anything about this, I'm standing by my idea that dealing with HA by turning off your lights is a horrible idea.

I'll leave it at that.

FWIW, a cloudy day on a reef is still WAYYYY more light than "no light"

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9747112#post9747112 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clekchau
sdguy, i have one of the most efficent skimmers made and i still have an algae problem cyano not hair though. at this point leaving the lights off 3 days seems to be the next step.

As someone who has had tanks that looked like swamps full of algae as well as tanks that were/are algae free, I am never going to be convinced of this methodology. It's a bandaid at best. To each their own though.

[davocean]

I actually agree w/ you as not to rely on this to rid problem like some try to do.
Ridding source is key, but sounds like he's doing that.
Especially in this case as it came from someone elses rock.
I just like to kill the light as a final touch while HA has been weakened.

[pumpdogs]

I did not have any hair alage until I bought a coral that had some on it from some other guys tank.It slowly started to take over my tank.

[clekchau]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9747144#post9747144 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
As someone who has had tanks that looked like swamps full of algae as well as tanks that were/are algae free, I am never going to be convinced of this methodology. It's a bandaid at best. To each their own though.

well i welcome your advice on how to rectify the problem, i've cut down on feeding and my skimmer still pulls out about 3-5 gallons sometimes more of nasty nog every day, yet the cyano still persists. it's also not the flow, i have so much flow i had to dial down my hammerhead. i don't know what else to do.

[Sk8r]

Check your phosphate levels: it can get pretty bad from just fishfood, even if you're using ro/di. I found it to be one of the sneakiest problems I've ever fought---I kind of wonder if it didn't build up in my sandbed, because it was fierce. The move and re-setup has re-set everything to 0 in my tank, but I'm sure going to watch phosphates like a hawk in this new version.

[davocean]

Back when I had HA, it was such a nightmare to pull 180lbs of rock and do the scrub/rinse.
I wanted to make sure I did everything I could to both kill and rid source.
All my corals/ fish were just fine.
No regrets.
Note; my tank is mixed, I'm not an sps expert.
I guess if my tank was all sps I wouldn't rush into this w/ out talking to the pros first.

[pumpdogs]

This will be the 3rd time I am doing the scrub rinse.The damm stuff just keeps growing back.But like I said this alage needs light.My rock in the sump and fuge were scrubbed the same day and the alage is nowhere to be found.I would cook the rock if I did not have any corals to worry about.I have soft corals a few lps and 4 rose anemones.