New LEDS arrive - Blackout Time

[mdenesha]

LED lights I ordered just arrived tonight.. Put them on, stared at my tank for a while, and then realized that the bubbles in the algae was getting worse. So I googled "bubbles in algae" - ****, Dinoflagellates! Never heard of it before but it sounds bad... When I thought the algae was cyano/diatoms I was bummed, now I'm wishing it was just cyano.

Well.. I'm not sure exactly what set it off. For the most part it is only on my base rock, and only in the areas where the lights hit.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0
Temp - 78
Salinity - 1.024
Ca2 - 380
Alk - 8dKH
pH - 8.2

I think I may have too much chaeto jammed into one of my back chambers (12 gal AIO) and on inspection tonight it looks as if some may be dead or built up detritus (brown looking) - could this be the cause, despite my water parameters being fine?

Anyways, I've been researching dino and it seems people have had luck raising the pH with Kalkwasser and a 72 hour blackout period.

Anyone have any luck with this, did it have any negative affects on fish/coral, and did you do a complete black out (cover tank with tarp/sheet?) or did you allow ambient room lighting?

What luck - was looking forward to enjoying my new lights, but I suppose they will have to wait till after this blackout!

 

[q8fish]

keep updating

 

[Klewis]

My tank is having a similar response to my new LED fixture. I thought it was my renewed excitement in my tank and my increased care of the tank causing a new ugly tank stage cycle. I'm going to be upgrading in a few months so I wasn't too worried. Keep us informed of your discoveries. I'll be following.

Good luck!

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

I turned the lights off for 5 days just using them to feed and then back off again , sure enough it all went away and I was good to go !

 

[marrone]

If you're going to go the way of trying to rid your tank of Cyano/Algae, by leaving your lights off for a number of days, you should do a good size water change the day you plan on turning your lights back on, as this will help remove the additional nutrients in the water from the die off.

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

If you're going to go the way of trying to rid your tank of Cyano/Algae, by leaving your lights off for a number of days, you should do a good size water change the day you plan on turning your lights back on, as this will help remove the additional nutrients in the water from the die off.

That is a very good point ! Also switch out the carbon and gfo in your reactors!!

 

[reefer4eva]

As much as I love all in one tanks,I find the biggest problem is the chamber people use aren't really designed for use of macro algae to grow to be beneficial for proper nutrient export.ofcourse this is my opinion

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

As much as I love all in one tanks,I find the biggest problem is the chamber people use aren't really designed for use of macro algae to grow to be beneficial for proper nutrient export.ofcourse this is my opinion

You know what , I thought about that once and never gave it much thought , I gotta think about that some more

 

[mdenesha]

So I just turned the lights back... just shy of 72 hours.

The dino appears to be mostly gone - then again I didn't have a very bad case. I do see 1 bubble. The areas that had the most brown slime and bubbles now looks ashy which I am assuming is the left over dead matter.

I suctioned and did a small 10% water change yesterday, cleaned out the rear chamber that the chaeto was in (had a large buildup of detritus) and only have a moderate amount of macro back there now. I also added a bag of chemi-pure elite.

I changed my timer as well so I will have actinics on for about 6 hours and the normal lights on for 4. I will leave it like this for a week, unless I see signs of it coming back, then I will cut back even more.

All my corals, fish, and inverts appear to be unharmed..

I've read the H202 threads and considered that route (as a last ditch effort) but thus far I am feeling pretty good about how this ~72 Hour black out went.

Tomorrow I will try to syphon out the dead material left on my LR and do a water change... although I have read that water changes can cause dino blooms...

 

[Tonyscoots84]

keep doing water changes. You have a nutrient problem and even though your test kits might say your at 0 the algae or dino's might be consuming them. you have to dilute the pollution in your tank. Best way is water changes.

how long has this tank been up and running?
what is your water change cycle?
what are you feeding?
what are you dosing?
are you running carbon and phosban in reactors?

 

[mdenesha]

Its only been up 6 weeks. After the cycle finished I've been changing ~20% weekly. I alternate between silversides (usually 1/3 of a fish), nori, pellets, and cyclops. I just ordered Coral Frenzy. I feed fairly sparingly I think, usually once a day. I'm not dosing. I have purigen, aquapure filter pad (recommended by LFS), and chemipure elite in the back chamber.

I also have macro (chaeto in the back) and seaweed in the display.

A problem I think was having way too much chaeto packed into one of the back chambers and some started to die off and detritus build up back there, which I cleaned yesterday.

Also, I've only had the purigen in for a week and it is a tan color - at what point should I recharge or throw out?

 

[Tonyscoots84]

well that explains the dino's... keep doing water changes and dont overfeed

 

[reefer4eva]

Its only been up 6 weeks. After the cycle finished I've been changing ~20% weekly. I alternate between silversides (usually 1/3 of a fish), nori, pellets, and cyclops. I just ordered Coral Frenzy. I feed fairly sparingly I think, usually once a day. I'm not dosing. I have purigen, aquapure filter pad (recommended by LFS), and chemipure elite in the back chamber.

I also have macro (chaeto in the back) and seaweed in the display.

A problem I think was having way too much chaeto packed into one of the back chambers and some started to die off and detritus build up back there, which I cleaned yesterday.

Also, I've only had the purigen in for a week and it is a tan color - at what point should I recharge or throw out?

I would recharge the purigen..don't throw it out it last forever