How to properly black out a tank!

[cichlidcichlid]

I have throughly cleaned my 29 gallon planted tank of as much cyanobacteria as I possibly could get. So that way when I do a black out I won't get an ammonia spike from the dead cyanobacteria.

What are the procedures for a black out?

How many days?

What to cover the tank with?

Should I dose ferts or feed during this time?

I want to get it right the first time because I just spent 6 and a half hours cleaning this tank. So you can see why I want this to go well.

Are there any problems that I should be aware of that might come up from doing this procedure?

Is there a chance that any fish or plants will be dead at tghe end of the black?

Please let me know as soon as possible so that I can start tonight.

[Mgamer20o0]

turn off all light. cover the tank dont look in. many people use blankets. you can use what ever you want as long as it blocks the light. no ferts or food.

lower chance of any fish/plant problem shipping. some of the plants might wilt a little but there really shouldnt be a problem at all.

[eeyipes]

I have blackout questions too :)

How long are you supposed to black out for?
Do you stop CO2?
Does lowering the temp a few degrees help as well?
Do you do water changes during the blackout?


I've been considering doing this if I can't find another solution. I've been fighting BBA and green algae for a few weeks now. I've reduced my lighting period by 3 hours today in hopes it will help. I was doing 13 hours, going down to 10. Maybe I should cut it back more? I've also just removed the slow growing anubias and added some ludwigia repens, pennywort (planted, not floating) and willow hygro. Other plants are red wendtii and java fern. I use the flourish plant tabs, and some liquid ferts maybe once a week. I have 2x65w power compact over 29 gallon with DIY CO2, but one of those bulbs is the actinic kind. I haven't replaced it yet because I kind of like the blueish tint to the lighting. I've been thinking of switching it out a combo 10k/actinic bulb to add more real oomph to the lighting.

The green algae doesn't bother me too much, but I hate the BBA.

[The Zigman]

IDK about blacking out a tank, But aluminum foil would work great.

I cleared up a cyano outbreak in a 125 gal Discus tank bu using 1/2 dose of Maracyn (Erythromycin)

IMHO
Black outs dont work. They are a hassle, and in the end, there's no gaurantee it will work, and you will starve your plants for the duration of the blackout. In order for the black out to be effective, it has to be total, and continious for several days, even letting light in as you feed your fish can stall the progress.

Cyano bacteria is a bacteria, not really an algea. If you want to get rid of it for GOOD, once and for all, use the Erythromycin.

[cichlidcichlid]

How many days do I do it for?

3?

Please let me know so I can cover is tommorrow.

Or should I just get the myrecine stuff?

Mg Help me please!

[Mgamer20o0]

How long are you supposed to black out for? 3-4 is common

Do you stop CO2?i wouldnt run it really no point with the black out.

Does lowering the temp a few degrees help as well?not that i know of

Do you do water changes during the blackout?nope

another idea for the BBA is taking them out and dipping them in h2o2. that will kill the bba.

[eeyipes]

another idea for the BBA is taking them out and dipping them in h2o2. that will kill the bba.

I will try that with the java fern, it's got it the worst. Thanks!

[j-gens]

i would do the EM dose then the blackout on the last 3 days of treatment... but blackout for 3-4 days is what you usually shoot for...
BGA is a photosynthesizing bacteria so the blackout will affect it but not guaranteed to kill it

if you dose EM make sure you dose the FULL amount... half doses will possibly cause the em to not fully die and make it resistant to the antibiotic and next time harder to eradicate

[cichlidcichlid]

I just spend 5 hours making sure that the tank is completely pitch black. I am starting to get a little nervous that I might find everything dead when I take it all off.

I made sure the tank is very clean and the filter has new pads so that it will not clog when I am doing the black out. I made sure to feed the fish as much as they will eat so that they will have some food.

How many days should I do it?

will 3 days be able to kill it off?

I want to make sure that I really finish it off because I really don't want to see the stuff again to be honest.

MG or anyone that has done this successfully please give me any advice as to what I should do.

I know that I will be doing a 50% water change after the blackout.

[tanker]

I have done Black-outs a few times in my life (for different algaes--will not work for cyno!!)--it works great!!

I have a customer black-felt cover which I sewed together. Cover tank completely--no light at all coming in. Turn off lights, and CO2. Nice to have an airstone, but not needed. Feed well and do a large water change the day before.

Cover tank completely for 4-5 days---do not look or peak into tank!!

On the day of the "opening" feed well and do another large water change.

Then continue as if the black-out never happed. Usually==no more algae (again--will not work for cyno).

[fish dork]

I don't know about BBA, the blackouts have not worked for that for me. Definately DOES work for cyano. 4 days, no light whatsoever. I used black garbage bags and scotch tape to stick it on. I also turned the CO2 off and ran an airstone for the duration.

[cichlidcichlid]

I am confused does it work for cyano or not?

[peanutbowl]

Try the black out. For four days. cover the tank well and make sure it is light proof. run an airstone to keep oxygen within the tank enclosure. Do large water changes the day before and the day after the black out. Your fish and plants will survive. The idea is to kill the cyano. If it does not get light, it will take a serious hit. If the black out doesn't work, then try the antibiotic. but the black out is a little more PC.

[cichlidcichlid]

how many days should I go for 3 or 4?

[The Zigman]

If you are going to do a black-out, go for broke and do it 4 days. Dont take a chance on doing a 3 day black out only to have it not work.

Personally I liked the EM treatment. Was alot easier and worked very quickly.

[peanutbowl]

Try the black out. For four days.

some have even gone for five. it is very effective for lots of different algae, not just the cyanobacteria. it can really help you start over.

[bigwater]

Could you post a pic of your tank? I am not sure if I have had cyano before. I have done black outs a few times and it helped me get the tank under control with some algae. I used packaging paper and masking tape, turned co2 and the lights off. I always had fish so I fed them very little every other day. Every couple of days I kicked the light on for a quick look, the plants fell off a bit but came back.

The BBA is stubborn and black did not help much. For the BBA physically remove ALL that you can see. I cut all infected leaves, scrapped the glass with a razor, pulled all the equipment and filter and scrubbed. Any gravel with BBA out dont flip it. All of my tanks have SAE I find that they help as well as growing a lot of plants.

[fish dork]

I've done blackouts for 3, 4 and 5 days. I've found that the 4 day period works well for me. The blackout kills the BGA, but not BBA. To get rid of BBA I've used gluteraldehyde. (The excel alternative). I usually get a reoccurance of BGA everytime my nitrates get low. Either if I miss a dosing or get a little lax on the dosing schedule.

I going to add a UV sterilizer to my setup and do a little test to see if it can help with the BGA. I know it can't kill it once it's growing, but I'm wondering if it can help it from occuring by killing it in the free floating stage. I live in a rural area and I know there's BGA in the creek where my water comes from.

Sorry... don't mean to hijack, I digress. The 4 day B.O. has worked well for me. 3 days doesn't kill all of the BGA, where I find that 5 stresses the plants too much.

Oh, and I should add, I usually dose a weeks worth of nitrate just before applying the garbage bags, right after a 50% water change and cleaning up all the BGA I can see.

[jmhart]

A great way to kill BBA is to spray it with a 3:1 excel solution during water changes.

And of coruse to up your co2 and reduce your lighting.

[cichlidcichlid]

When you blackout a tank on the last day are you supposes to end it on that day or the day after that?

I started on wednesday and 4 days later is on sunday which is today. Should I take everything off today or should I wait until monday?

I was thinking that if I waited until monday I wouldn't be able to work on it until the end of the day so then it would be 5 days.

It is around 5:15 right now and this is the 4 day should I end the blackout today?

[cichlidcichlid]

How bad is it if I waited until the 5 day?

I will deffinitely feed the fish tommorrow morning.

[fish dork]

The fish will be fine. The plants should be fine too. I've done 5 day blackouts before and everything was ok. I only switched to using 4 days because I didn't notice any additional benefits to the extra day.

[cichlidcichlid]

Great news I took everything off today and the tank looks great. Thank you to all that help!

If I had known it was that easy I would have done it a long time ago.

By the way the plants look better than before the blackout. The banana plant has grown 4 inches during the 5 days as well as everything looks so green.

I think the plants were growing while the lights were off. Hopefully the cyanobacteria is gone because the little bits that I had seen are now gone.

One problem though! The compact florecent that was on top of the tank now has some moisture in it because I seal the tank off so well that the vent on top of the light were the only openings left.

If I left it fully dry will it still work?

Also today is monday and on the chart that I drew out I am suppose to dose kno3 and KH2p04. Should I do a 50% water change and then dose this or should I wait to dose tommorrow?

Until I turn on the light I figured that dosing ferts would be a bad idea and it is already 1:39 p.m. so the day is almost over.

Just wanted to check again lights at 8 hours a day will work fine right?

I want to get it right this time now that the algae isn't holding me back, but I don't want to do something to bring it back.

Thanks,

cichlidcichlid

[jmhart]

Just wanted to check again lights at 8 hours a day will work fine right?

I want to get it right this time now that the algae isn't holding me back, but I don't want to do something to bring it back.

Thanks,

cichlidcichlid


Blackouts and EM will get rid of cyanobacteria, but unless you correct the conditions that allowed it, it'll just come back in a month or so. Cyanobacteria thrive low nitrate and low flow conditions. I'd say test your water. If your nitrates are consistently close to 0, then you need to be dosing more. Otherwise you may likely have a dead spot that is not getting it's water circulated enough to prevent the cyano.

[dundadundun]

excellent advice from jmhart!

cyano is one of the earliest forms of life on this planet. there's a little diversity there... blackouts work for some, in some tanks. bba is also a general name and whether it works or not would depend on what caused it in your tank as well as conditions therein.

people have different opinions because people have different experiences... and tanks.