5 day blackout

[Dominick]

going to do a 5day blackout iv read to do a 50% PWC, and no light at all,
no feeding.
Now my question is what about pressurized Co2 should that be turned off?

TIA

 

[rich311k]

Yes turn the CO2 off and up the aeration in the tank.

 

[hc8719]

wait why are you doing this? algae?

 

[severum mama]

Make sure you cover the tank REALLY well. I had to do my blackout twice, and I think it was because I didn't wrap the blanket tightly enough around my tank. Good luck!

 

[Alshain]

Make sure you cover the tank REALLY well. I had to do my blackout twice, and I think it was because I didn't wrap the blanket tightly enough around my tank. Good luck!

I've found black garbage bags are easier to get around and easier to tape to the tank. Just a suggestion if you choose to do this again.

 

[7Enigma]

Started my 3-day last night. First used a contractor size heavy duty hefty plastic bag, and then covered that with a sleeping bag. Put a piece of tape over the light switch in the room and drew the shades. Here's hoping yours (and mine) works as planned.

 

[hc8719]

ok again...

why are you doing this? algae?

 

[7Enigma]

I would assume so. I know of no other reason for performing a blackout in a tank.

 

[Dominick]

Yup im doing this because of algae i had bad green water couldent see the fish until they where an inch from the glass so i bought a diatom filter as a temp fix cleared it up in an hour now to remove that hard crusty algae im doing a black out.

reason for algae high light no Co2 until this past weekend
and High phosphate.

with that said should i try to remove the phosphate then do a black out
or the other way around?

 

[7Enigma]

It's always a good idea to do that before a blackout, as it limits the food that the algae might be able to store/use even without light. That being said if you did a large PWC before starting you reduced the amount by 1/2, and it would be tough to imagine if your tank is covered well that any algae will survive 5 days without light.

Now my 3 day blackout, I wanted to make sure there was no excess nutrients present since its possible that something could hang on that long (lets hope not.

The BBA is really the only offensive looking algae in the tank, the brush algae is just a pain to deal with. I'm hoping that the addition of Excel (only been dosing for a week), with a more strict CO2 monitoring, and lower light (now am using a 50/50 65w on my 20gallon rather than the previous 6700k) will make these problems disappear for good.

 

[Dominick]

Well i cut my black out back i got up today uncovered to look at the tank it was compleatly beautifull so i did a 50% water change reintroduced my Co2 and now all my plants are pearling something none of them have done befor
i have to do some landscaping right now will wait a few hours to do all my tests then will post them and pics