# Algae controlling black outs



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Yay or nay? Are blackouts a valid way to handle the less tenacious forms of algae? To be honest, I tried it two weeks ago for three days and it certainly killed A LOT of algae. I didn't anticipate all the dead algae floating around, though (esp. from the fuzz algae). So I don't think I cleaned up well enough afterwards. Since I had to cull a lot of my floaters since then, there's more light than before so the algae has sprung up again. I've been adding micros (Flourish) and cleaning the algae by hand but it's just not cutting it, especially for the green slime and fuzz algae.

This time I was thinking of doing a 4 day blackout before it gets too bad so that I don't have to cull the floaters again. Last time, the plants seemed somehow rejuvinated from it. I have a lot of new growth and the fish came out fine. Maybe I'll do a water change on day 2 and then a 50% afterwards. Thoughts? Has anyone had a bad experience with this? My previous thread "What did I do wrong?" chronicles this a bit.


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## ashappard (Jun 3, 2006)

I have a non-CO2 30G that started having algae issues and blackouts cleared it up. I did a series of 2 day blackouts and then cleaned up all the detris, cleaned the filter and it was algae free for a while. when algae started to come back, I cut the light intensity in half and its been gone ever since. Plants are growing better also. then I added a big java fern to sponge out some of the fish waste.

in a high light/CO2 tank I used to use blackouts to coax erio type III to split. I think it works, but it wasnt a scientific experiment in any way.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Humm... yeah, I personally didn't see how this could be a bust but I was feeling around for insight. Thanks!


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Well I did the 4 day black out (though I cheated and cleaned on the third day). Everything was going great- I decided to rearrange the plants so that they would be more appropriately placed according to light needs. I set the light timer so it had a 2 hour "siesta." Then slowly the fuzz algae came back. I plucked all the back beard with tweazers but this stuff is another story. The CO2 is really high, too... what the heck?!? I'm not sure what's left. I guess let it go. Advice?


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## ItsDubC (Jan 12, 2008)

Perhaps the rearranging of plants introduced excess iron from the substrate into the water column, allowing the algae to make a comeback?


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Definitely some excess nutrients somewhere. I agree substrate might be an issue, or bioload... what are your water parameters?


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Since my last reply, the plant growth has been astounding. However, so has the algae- I posted a new thread about it. Anywho, you might have something there about the excessive nutrients- I think I will go home and test iron. Testing iron has always been somewhat unrewarding for me, though- what is a good range? I feel like it can be a little arbitrary unless something is really wrong.


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## ItsDubC (Jan 12, 2008)

Sorry, I don't really know what a good range is for iron, perhaps someone else can chime in on that?

You may also wanna check and make sure your ammonia levels are low.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

yeah, I know my ammonia's low- I usually do a battery of tests every month or so and while I didn't do one immediately after the black-out, nothing's been chemically wrong before. Though this might be something I should do as well. Thanks!


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

In one of my smaller tank, I did a 3-4 day blackout for those green slime algae that was covering my carpeting plant. After that I dosed excel for a week and the green algae has not made a comeback. 
I also did some rearranging of plants in my NPT and caused a bit of a nutrient spike. (Huge mistake on my part).


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