# [Wet Thumb Forum]-blacking out plants



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i am currently blacking out all of my plants. i had to go to drastic measures. it sucks, but i think it is the best decision. my tank is sooooo bare right now!!!


----------



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i am currently blacking out all of my plants. i had to go to drastic measures. it sucks, but i think it is the best decision. my tank is sooooo bare right now!!!


----------



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

how long should i keep them blacked out?

current plants:
anubias nana
coffefolia
ludwigia glandulosa
ludwigia rapens
sunset hygro
red temple
baby tears
rotala indica
dwarf hairgrass

will 3 days be good?


----------



## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Russel, 

What are you trying to accomplish by blacking out your aquarium? What problem are you trying to solve?

Also, what are your tank specifications - size, lighting, CO2 if any, dosing, etc?

Bill


----------



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

sorry bill, i thought everyone knew about all my algae hehe. i had some thread algae attack my dwarf hairgrass. it has been there for about a month and a half. it recently spread (slightly) to my rotala indica and my baby tears. my ferts are in pretty good balance other than mg, which i cant get a good reading on at the moment.(bad test kit i believe).

i am blacking out the plants and tank to try to kill off all the thread algae.

you should see my signature at the bottom of the post with all my tank specs.

as for ferts, i use a modified version of the PPS-PMDD that better fits my tank. (less po4)


----------



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

it said you replied, but i didn't get it if you did?


----------



## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

I find in some of my tanks that low or fluctuating CO2 levels can cause thread algae. What are your CO2 levels? With 96w of light over a 30gal you need high levels. I don't think a black out is going to fix thread algae. Blackouts are for green water. At lest in my experience. 

Hawk


----------



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

well hawk, you were kinda right. it killed about half of the thread algae. the other was easily scraped off when the grass was out of the water. 

got some new pics of the layout under russell's tank progress in the pic. gallery.


----------



## imported_Creature (Feb 6, 2003)

I ran out of CO2 on a Friday and couldn't get a refill until Monday a couple of weeks ago and I had been doing the EI water changes part for about a 3 weeks before and had just received all my chems from GW. I couldn't reduce the lighting as I am using pendants so I opted for a 3 day blackout. I had been having trouble with the short, green velvet type algae all over the plants and tank. Everytime I wiped the inside panes, it was coated again in 2 days. After the blackout, I noticed a lot of it had died, but new it probably formed spores in response to the stress. Now, two weeks on, I've continued with the water changes and started the dosing method and the improvement is phenonmenal. I think the blackout shortened the time it would have normally taken to achieve the results I have now...very low level algae. Carefully pruning affected leaves and planting en masse has really made a difference as well. This week I noticed for the first time, my plants went from slouching to perky. Don't know if a blackout is right for everyone but it helped me out a lot.


----------



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i am totally for blackouts if and when everything else has failed. such as nutrient balancing, lighting, and co2.


----------

