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.
How to properly black out a tank!
- Thread starter cichlidcichlid
- Start date
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.
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.
Personally I liked the EM treatment. Was alot easier and worked very quickly.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And of coruse to up your co2 and reduce your lighting.
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?
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?
