Rjohn Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 In the forums, I ran across a mention of "3 days of darkness". What is this and what is it supposed to do? I really do appreciate all the expertise on this board. It's nice to have someplace to go for information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Mark posted a link in the thread where it was discussed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I do it. I think it does wonders for my tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Interesting ... I might have to try this as I am battling a bad brown algae bloom right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I especially like the lower electric bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefytang Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Seems like misguided advice with no science behind it. I suppose one could argue it like this: My dog pooped on the floor because I didn't take him outside for his daily dump so all living beings within the domain are banished into darkness with no food until the mess goes away. In short, it's collective punishment for bad husbandry. New tanks WILL have algae booms, cyano, and diatoms. It goes away with time and proper care aka water changes, good circulation, balanced parameters, etc. Remember, nothing good happens fast in a reef tank. That's reef keeping 101. BTW when in recorded history has there EVER been a 3 day solar eclipse? I could go along with diffusing aquarium lights in a manner that simulates a cloudy day but not a complete blackout for 3 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 What ocean has 365 days of 10 hours full light? My tank always receives ambient light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefytang Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 What ocean has 365 days of 10 hours full light? My tank always receives ambient light. Rhetorical, I can appreciate that. ;-) This is why we use timers with our lights. 10 hours on full blast can surely be excessive with some setups, especially with MH and I wasn't advocating such a thing to begin with. But you know the ideal scenario. Actinics on first, later the MH or T5 etc. Later turning off the MH or T5 then afterwards the actinics with maybe a little moon LED during moon phases. You know, trying the best one can to simulate real world scenarios. I'm just not an advocate of shock techniques such as the 3 day blackout. It seems reckless and unnatural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 beefy, it's time you came out of the closet with your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefytang Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 And put it where? Your place? OK! I guess we could all stand to dump everything back into the ocean. But what fun would that be? There are too many thrills to be had torturing fish and corals with sinister, unquantifiable methodologies that some perceive to have benefits. =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Ever been underwater on a dive? It get's dark fast. Now imagine a tropical storm. It is dark on land during one of those let alone underwater. There have been a lot of people that have used a time period of darkness with great success. Myself included. I personally think 3 days of total darkness is a bit excessive, but if it works for people why bash them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefytang Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Ever been underwater on a dive? It get's dark fast. Now imagine a tropical storm. It is dark on land during one of those let alone underwater. There have been a lot of people that have used a time period of darkness with great success. Myself included. I personally think 3 days of total darkness is a bit excessive, but if it works for people why bash them? Yeah I have. Buck Island/St. Croix. And I'm not bashing. I'm just offering dissent. Even in the RC thread it was evident the technique didn't work for everyone. I think it is important to acknowledge the power of suggestion in the herd and the possibility that our perception of success with given techniques like these are subjective at times. In the end, it's the long term success of said technique that counts. If said problems keep happening over and over using said technique is it really a cure or just a frantic patch? Also, I did mention early that I didn't oppose diffusing aquatic light to simulate clouds. I know weather conditions are not constant. But I also know that many corals are photosynthetic and rely on light for their sustenance. To me, shutting off the lights for 3 days, leaving corals in total darkness is akin to starving them of the energy needed to sustain their existence for the sake of a nuisance that wasn't their fault to begin with. And isn't it the nature of new tanks to have issues with imbalances like algae, cyano etc? Why not encourage people to cycle their tanks longer instead of rushing out and stocking them, causing even greater imbalances where they then resort to such extreme measures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Corals don't need as much light as we give them. I agree that fixing the problem is a better idea. However, there are times when it can become out of hand and a break is what's needed. My personal way that I have done it twice is to leave all light off for one day and then use just actinic for 2 more. It got rid of the cyano and I had no adverse effects on my corals. I did this once in my old 29g that had softies and LPS and once in my 125 that was full of SPS at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) For what it is worth I would like to share my experiance with haveing a young tank and useing quick fix methods to correct problems. I have a 20g long tank that I was exited to get going. I allowed it to cycle for mabye 3 days (unaware at the time of the cycling process) Through out the next 30 days I had been haveing trouble. I have gone through 3 fish and a banded shrimp. I began to suplament the tank to try and balance out the levels. Then increased the water schedule to keep it clean. Through research I realized that in all my attempts to correct one problem I was creating another. The last thing that I did to get rid of my cyono outbreak was lower the lighting time. I didn't go as drastic as three days, 1day off, 1/2 day on, 3/4 on, full day on, 10hrs on. This did help control the cyono to a cofortable level. I continued to have issues, then it struck me that not alowing the tank to run it's mill I was preventing the healthy orginisms from catching up with the unhealthy. Leading to an unbalanced tank. For about the last 2 weeks or so have left the tank alone manageing my feeding and manually removing some of the cyono, and ditritas. My tank is looking great now everything is propagating open and full. I know that I am new to the hobby and do not have the experiance of most reefers. I just thought that mabye the results of my reef would help the conversation. Thank you everyone for the help that you offer. Sorry logged in under friend of mine (this is the sanfords not Capt. Obvious) Edited February 5, 2009 by Capt. Obvious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 (edited) I've employed 3 days of darkness without any noticeable effects on anything except the cyano and GHA. My tank is 1yr old now and I still have issues with both due to poor husbandry-probable overfeeding(2x/day usually, flake/pellet/frozen), sumpless so no fuge, RODI filter being old, not enough CUC. The 3 days of darkness is not total, just no light from the fixture. The tank gets plenty of ambient light from a big window 8ft away, and room light. Edited February 6, 2009 by Robb in Austin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Another negative point about the "3days" is that it is pointless unless followed by a huge water change, and most folks don't do that. Remember that dying algae becomes a food source for new algae and that in an attempt to survive the population will "spore" off into the water. Unless you remove all that excess nutrient and "algae seed" you are going to see the algae come right back, possibly even worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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