how long can i go lights out for?

[anthonyjmorale]

Im have been fighting a GHA problem for awhile now and its starting to get under control. i have added a clean up crew of snails, hermits and some emerald crabs and they have helped alot.i have also shortened the length of time my lights are on . i wanted to go lights completely to put the finally touches on whats left. how long can i do this without effecting my corals. i only have a few lps. also will it effect the fish?

[Allmost]

cover all sides of the tank, and turn off light.

corals are 100% fine for first 3 days, the are fine longer too, but might not like it too much.

you can turn the light on for 10-20 mins to feed the fish.

[Zalman]

I would do some heavy skimming and have a water change planned during or immediately after lights out. all the algae die off will release excess nutirents back into your tank

[anthonyjmorale]

alright i covered the sides of the tank and im gonna do water changes everyday im on lights out

[mcpiii1124]

Fish are fine w/o light l- BC (before coral hahah) my PC bulb went and i had to wait 2.5 weeks for it to come in- all my fish did fine

[degibson84]

I did 4 days and my Frogspawn did fine. My mushrooms were very weird looking the first day almost inside out looking. They came back the next day to their normal self

[gmate]

3 days no problem. I have done 3 day lights out periods to combat cyano in the past on some of my smaller tanks. Worked like a charm, corals never cared.

5 days is pushing it. I went five days lights out when I was out of town on business last month, thinking I would be okay. My acans and leptastrea weren't too happy. They're starting to bounce back now, but it was enough for me to realize that I won't be doing it that long ever again.

[DLANDINO]

I have done 9.5 during a power outage with all SPS. Tank never looked better when the power came back on. Go for it

[sdheath]

I turned the lights off before leaving town on Saturday to deal with a minor cyano outbreak. I expect things will be fine when I return on Wednesday.

[sdheath]

Got home yesterday, and turned the lights back on after 4-1/2 days. What a difference!

Before:
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh92/sdheath26/20130728_155155_zpsbbaf23a6.jpg

After:
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh92/sdheath26/P8081170_zpsdfdbbc48.jpg

[Blitzie]

I have never had a need to do this and honestly I do not know why, but when I read about this I always get the same question in my head.

If algae is a problem in the tank due to excess nutrients, does it not consume some of the excess nutrients as well to live? So if you go lights out and remove the algae and do nothing about the excess nutrients and their source will it not come back even worse because there is less to consume it?

[Blitzie]

SDHeath
It looks like it did a good job

[DLANDINO]

I have never had a need to do this and honestly I do not know why, but when I read about this I always get the same question in my head.

If algae is a problem in the tank due to excess nutrients, does it not consume some of the excess nutrients as well to live? So if you go lights out and remove the algae and do nothing about the excess nutrients and their source will it not come back even worse because there is less to consume it?

Not worse but yes, it will come back fairly quickly. Three days lights out once a month or so followed by a decent water change 30-50% does wonders. It's easy for me to say and do because I only have a 46 gallon tank. Others with a larger water volume would have to weight the financial aspect of salt.

[anthonyjmorale]

just to give an update. i went lights out for 7 days. all my corals and fish survived. there was very little hair algae left so my clean up crew was able to get rid of what was left after a week or two. now my tank is looking real good. so i would recommend it to anyone who is having trouble getting rid of gha.

[PL-Reef]

just to give an update. i went lights out for 7 days. all my corals and fish survived. there was very little hair algae left so my clean up crew was able to get rid of what was left after a week or two. now my tank is looking real good. so i would recommend it to anyone who is having trouble getting rid of gha.

Thanks for the update. What are your parameters afterwards? Curious if you had a large spike in any.

[benray4fun]

A couple Mexican turbo snails will eat that down to the rocks surface...