Tank lights on for three days!

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yohann976

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Messages
212
I had to go out of town last weekend on business. I left Friday and came back Sunday evening. Unfortunately, my light timer broke just prior to my departure so the lighting was my wife's responsibility. I told my wife to turn on my lights at 9 a.m. and turn them off at 7 p.m. giving my plants 10 hours of light each day. Apparently, she forgot about it and left them on the entire weekend.

Now I have algae I've never seen before and it is everywhere. I have green spot algae all over my plants. I also have string algae in large bunches throughout my tank. I even have the dreaded cyano. There are more types, but I'm not sure what they are.

So, what should I do? I haven't had an algae problem in so long. So far, I did a huge water change. Now I am going to do a blackout for three days. I think that should kill off most of the algae. Any other suggestions would be helpful.
 
I'd say you're on the right track. Don't forget a second large water change with the blackout is complete and to dose your ferts back up to needed levels.
 
I might as well ask this here since the info will obviously help the OP:

How....the heck....am I supposed to clean the algea off the leaves of my plants w/out hurting the leaves?

I had some success with dipping the plants in a heavily diluted bleach solution. Algae quickly died...and most of the plants lived through it. haha. I don't remember the exact mixture right now. Might want to look that up
 
Some algae can be physically removed very easily. Other types attach to the leaves so stubbornly that you have to remove the affected leaves. You can try a diluted bleach solution as jrp1588 suggests. Try a mixture of 19:1 (so if you're using a regular measuring cup and 1/4 cup is one part, try 4 3/4 cups water and 1/4 cup bleach). I've dipped plants for about 30 seconds (I've seen elsewhere on the internet 2-3 minutes) and then rinse very well. Soaking the plants in fresh water with a double dose of dechlorinator will help remove the bleach too. It may look like the algae is still clinging to the leaves, but it should be dead, and it will go away over the course of a few weeks.
 
Well, I finished my blackout and did another large water change. I still have some algae on my driftwood and walls, but all of the algae on my plants died off. Clearing off my plants was the most important thing.
 
Yeah! :) I feel your frustration. Give yourself a pat on the back for solving the problem.

I am always having to mess with my timers kids....power outages etc.....it's a pain.
 
just a quistion, but if it was caused by the lighting being left on, and that was the only reason, wouldnt it stand to reason that getting the tank back on the normal lighting shcedule, over time it will revert back to normal since plants do tend to outcompete algae for nutrients, and if you didnt have any before, then that means that there is not the excess nutrients to suppor them, thus when they are being outcompeted, they will die off due to starvation?
 
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