effect of no lights?

[pspiegel]

Just a quick question.. what is the effect (both positive and negative) in general and more specifically on my water chemistry of running my 6 week old 14 gallon biocube with no lights for a few days?

The reason I ask is, I just got back from being away for 4 days and didn't get a timer for my tank yet so it was just going off of sunlight (I only have fish and crabs in it) for the time i was gone. I had some algea a week or two ago and someone here recommended to give it a few days off with no lights on, so i figured it would be the right time to try that. I came back and tested my water, and it was literally perfect across the board.

I was wondering if this is just because my cycle has now completely ended, or is the effect of having no lights on helpful for the water chemistry and it will go back up now that I am running lights?

Hope this question makes sense... Thanks!!

[roka64]

I would say, leaving the light off for a few days...maybe a max of 4 or even 6 days, MIGHT be ok, depending on the inhabitants. I think it could possibly end up damaging the life on the LR, if left off too long. If you have corals, I think that might cause some problems....Sometimes we black out a tank for about 4 days (again, depending on the inhabitants), to try to control or wipe out bad algaes or cyano.

[pspiegel]

thats what i thought, it was only 4 days so it seemed ok, the fish were a little pale when I got back but perked right up when the lights came back on.. what I am curious mostly about is if turning them off could have had an effect on reducing my chemistries, or if that is just most likely related to the cycle?

[roka64]

I'm not sure where you were in your cycle, so I can't answer that. If you are talking about the algae, it could have been diatoms (they show up at the end of your cycle), or if it was other algae, the lights out could have wiped it out. Keep in mind, the later means you could have excess nutrience in your tank. Maybe you will need to reduce the lighting cycle, how much/often you feed.

[Devilishturtles]

Leaving your lights off won't affect your cycle. Most likely your cycle was completed, assuming it wasn't cycled before you added livestock?

[pspiegel]

it was cycled before i added them, but the nitrates were still a bit high, i had been told by my lfs that my cycle was finished, but in reality.. it wasn't quite yet, just a week or so off..

[melosu58]

Lighting will not effect your chemistry. As long as there is no corals in there I would do a PWC and leave lights out for 4 or 5 days and do another 25% PWC and then turn lights back on but with a limited period per day like 6 hrs a day. Need also to feed every other day. I`ve been doing this feeding schedule in my tank for nine years now.