CO2 situation

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm having a problem with my CO2 and it is in the process of being fixed. This morning I noticed that the bubble rate was off. It would go at the normal rate then would slow down. Right before I left for work it completly stopped. I unplugged the selanoid then plugged it back in and it started the weird bubble count again then stopped. I turned off the light and CO2 and left for work. While at work I called Red Sea and we are working on the problem. For the mean time I won't be running the CO2 for several days until this is fixed. Is this going to be a problem? Can I just turn off my lights so I won't have massive algae issues?

If I just turn off the lights, should I continue dosing EI?

 

[SparKy697]

I would vote no because your plants do not use any nutrients when they are not performing photosynthesis.

 

[Purrbox]

I would recommend cutting your lighting in half and shortening the duration to 8hrs. This should slow down growth in the mean time and help prevent an algae outbreak. If it's only going to be for a couple of days it wouldn't hurt to keep dosing.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I don't have a way to cut my lighting in half if you mean to half the wattage. It's either all or nothing. Should I keep it on all the time then? I know that's going to cause algae issues. I'm already fighting beard algae.

 

[Glenc]

Is your light on a glass top? If so, maybe you could put some tin foil over half the top. I've done this before, it' a good temporary fix.

 

[Purrbox]

I would cut the duration to 8 hrs and follow Glenc's recommendation, since you can't actually half the amount of light.

 

[FMJnaX]

Alternatively, you could give Seachem's product Flourish Excel a shot. It may be able to supply enough of the needed carbon to keep things stable until your situation is fixed.

However, if you're already fighting algae, this may be the perfect opportunity to try a full blackout maneuver to eradicate the algae. Completely cover your tank (I use giant trashbags), stop feeding, stop dosing and hopefully you can squeeze out the algae. It's works a few times for me, though I haven't had to try it with beard algae.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

My main algae source is beard algae. It's taking over most of my plants. Last week I had another breakout of BGA but that was quickly resolved by dosing. I was pretty busy for a few days and just didn't remember to dose until I saw the BGA come back. A few days later it was done after I started dosing again. This beard algae is just relentless though.