Anyone here ever cover their tank for a couple of days, without any lights on? I have read the benefits can be an extra clean tank with sparkling water almost better than a water change(appearance wise). I covered mine up last night, and have the lights off today. If anyone is curious I can report back in a few days.
Ever Covered your tank up for a couple of days?
- Thread starter dnorton1978
- Start date
I have heard of at least one person who regularly leaves the lights off on his tank for a few days at a time. It was initially an effort to combat existing algae, and now it's a pre-emptive algae fighting measure. He didn't mention anything about covering the tank, and as far as algae goes, I don't know if that would be much help. As far as taking the place of a water change, I can't see how it's going to remove any dissolved organics, replace depleted minerals or dilute any random nasties (yes, that's a technical term).
I can't remember what the exact benenfits were, but the dark period seem to be just as important as the light period.
I'm down to a pretty short 5 hour photoperiod now, for the past 13 months. I've recently gone to lighting the tank 6 days a week now, after reading that most reefs only see 250-300 sunny days a year.
All I've noticed so far is less algae growth and clearer water. I can't really report any noticeable growth or color changes in coral, as I swtiched from a 14k to 20k bulb this month.
I'm down to a pretty short 5 hour photoperiod now, for the past 13 months. I've recently gone to lighting the tank 6 days a week now, after reading that most reefs only see 250-300 sunny days a year.
All I've noticed so far is less algae growth and clearer water. I can't really report any noticeable growth or color changes in coral, as I swtiched from a 14k to 20k bulb this month.
I can see no lights and stuff keeping algae at bay and stuff, however light is only one thing needed by the algae to grow. Nutrients are another. So sure, you turn the lights off, you don't get algae on the glass. But what happens when you turn the lights back on?
Leaving it dark is not going to rid the tank of nutrients feeding algae. Now just because you have light doesn't mean you will have nuisance algae. But since we HAVE to have light for our corals I think it's a better idea to remove the nutrients and then you won't get the algae.
Leaving it dark is not going to rid the tank of nutrients feeding algae. Now just because you have light doesn't mean you will have nuisance algae. But since we HAVE to have light for our corals I think it's a better idea to remove the nutrients and then you won't get the algae.
I just wanted to update after about 30 hours without any lighting, the tank looks better than ever. My water is so clean and sparkling. My xenia ( i no nothing special) looks better than ever. The sand looks whiter. I could always see clearly looking form one end to the other, but now I could probably read a book with fine print on the opposite side of the tank, and I wear glasses. I was going to go an extra day, but i was suppose to feed them 2 days ago. When I don't feed them they get mad at me.......
Today I turned of my fuge light. I will leave that one off for a couple of days to clean that area up too. Reef central had a post about this and the results were amazing. I dont encourage other sites, but the benefits of this off light period is incredible.
Today I turned of my fuge light. I will leave that one off for a couple of days to clean that area up too. Reef central had a post about this and the results were amazing. I dont encourage other sites, but the benefits of this off light period is incredible.
Any good reefer would know to tackle nutrient issues from the source. This could be another tool to help them do it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a nutrient and/or algae issue to really see for myself how well it could work, but I've read that others have had very positive results.
I was very curious to see how my tank would react. I do like how I only have to clean the glass once every two weeks instead of once every week. In addition, hobbyists can do this to combat heat issues or save energy :wink:
Doni - Glad you had great results. Seems to be in line with what other people have experienced. I haven't read if anyone else does this with the tank covered.
I was very curious to see how my tank would react. I do like how I only have to clean the glass once every two weeks instead of once every week. In addition, hobbyists can do this to combat heat issues or save energy :wink:
Doni - Glad you had great results. Seems to be in line with what other people have experienced. I haven't read if anyone else does this with the tank covered.
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