Can I leave my lights off for 72 hours?

[fishwater]

I have been battling a red slime algae problem for weeks. I have done numerous water changes, added more flow and added more clean up crew. I remove the algae and 24 hours later it is back. I have heard that if you leave the lights off for 72 hours it will help stop algae. My question is whether my corals will be ok without light for that long. I have frogspawn, torch, mushroom, xenia, and yellow polyps.
Thanks

 

[sudc]

Those corals will probably all be ok and having the lights off might help but you still should figure out what is causing it.
What size tank? How much flow?
Do you test for phosphates? Are you using ro/di water?

 

[dawman]

Phosphates are a main cause for cyano . Also poor water flow will help it grow . What are your water levels ? Any dead spots in the tank ? Lights off for a few days will be fine as it will represent a few cloudy days .

 

[skeletoncowboy]

i had that brown diatom algae real bad on the sand of my 90g fowlr. i went a 3 day trip and left the lights off the entire time and when i got back it was all gone and never came back.

 

[tangwhispr]

there are many times in which there is limited lighting for 72 hours, its fine on your tank...run some phos as well, and cut back feeding..also check your TDS on your RO unit

 

[fishwater]

It is a 29 biocube with stock return pump, and I added a Koralia 2 a few weeks ago.I have always used RO water, but I get it from the LFS so it might not be the best. I only feed every two days and just enough flakes for my two fish to eat. I have tested for phosphates and they were zero, but this might just be because the algae is using them all up. I just set up a fuge, so I am going to leave the lights on in the fuge while the main lights are off for 72 hours, I hope that this will use up any phosphate that the red slime algae is using. Does this plan sound like it will work?

 

[soldier0117]

You could try chemiclean which is a red slime killer and it is safe because it isn't like a normal algaecide.

 

[badboyj]

chemiclean works great....

 

[isistius]

there is a great thread on another forum that raves about turning the lights off for 3 days a month. io've been doing it for a few months now. i think it works wonders. just think, a reef will only get about 280-300 days of sunlight a year. they don't seem to be hurt by it. as long as there is ambient lighting elsewhere in the room you'll be fine

 

[tangwhispr]

Just leave the lights off, don't add any chemicals to your tank...personally I think its a bad idea, or a last resort

 

[sudc]

Regardless, you still need to figure out what is causing them or it will just return when the lights come back on.
You should test your lfs water for phosphates. Most likely, they are overdue to change the filter on their ro water.