3 Day black out a good idea?

[hcgirl80]

Hi folks,
My 10g tank algae is out af control!! I scrub every few days and I feed lightly but the algae still won't go down! I've heard about the three day blackout and I've been considering it. But I don't know the whole story, so could I have some info please??

Thanks,
;)
~hc

[Blinky]

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels like? Sometimes algae will grow like crazy if the phosphates get too high.
Have you got live plants?
How much light is on the tank? Is it exposed to sunlight (even a little)?
A blackout will probably help, but it's best to try to find the root of the problem - why the overgrowth of algae is there in the first place - or you'll probably just have to deal with it again.

[Sharkyloach]

A 3 Day Black out is exactly what I would do, Thow a towel over the tank as well as turning the lights out.

[beviking]

The trick is complete black out. Don't use a flimsy towel that will let light through. 4 days had detrimental effects to some of my plants, 3 days was o.k..

[aquabillpers]

The three day blackout will work for some algaes, like BGA, but if the basic cause of the algae is not found and fixed, it will just come back.

There is more to the three day blackout than just covering the aquarium. Tom Barr says, in part, that as much algae as possible must be removed first, and a water change and plant feeding should be performed after the three days. More can be found about this by doing a search on "Tom Barr blackout" without the quotes.

The way to control algae is to have a lot of thriving plants, plain and simple.

Bill

[hcgirl80]

I have 4 moneyworts and a javafern. I plan to get more moneywort soon. My levels are:
Nitrate: 0 :confused: I think maybe there's something wrong with my nitrate testing system... This doesn't look right.
phosphate: Un-test-able
I have a flourescent bulb that came with my wal-mart aquarium kit.
So remove alot of algae, feed the fish, turn the lights off, throw a towel over my tank for 3 days, water change and feed the plants at the end?? Is that it??

Thanks!
;)
~hc

[djlen]

Tank specs. sure would help. Amount of light. Nutrients you are dosing. N and P levels. Amount of fish and types. Plants. All the info. you can supply.
Put it all in one post so we can see what we're dealing with.

Len

[Blinky]

hcgirl90 - just a thought, if you want to make things easy for yourself (and those who want to help out) you can put all your specs in the 'Members Aquarium Specs' forum. There's a sticky there that shows you how to create a link to the post in your signature, so that any time anyone wants to know your tank size, inhabitants, lighting, water parameters etc. all they have to do is click - it's a bit of work but you only have to do it once and then update if you make a change to your tank.

[hcgirl80]

I know how to do that stuff--but alas, another emergency!!
I was scrubbing out my tank for the blackout and my filter quit running! The output wasn't streaky or anything--it just QUIT! Q-U-I-T!!!! I called my dad (he runs a swimming pool and knows filters) and he said I should unplug it. So I did.
Now what should I do?? What I am thankful for is that I have live plants and an air pump. *phew!*

:confused:
~hc