oregon aqua

i was 2.5 days into the black out method. i read it on a forum as a possible way to get rid of gda. no lights cover with blanket, dose excel do big water change every day. figured gotts try it once.

well it may work for others but not me i lost 2 FFF. also lost some plants both were background area. have no idea their names. downoi is not happy. crypt mush leaves laying around.

anybody else have something like this happen or am i just lucky?

oregon aqua

just some pics of the tank


BEFORE




AFTER

fishman9809

wow, huge change from the original.

oregon aqua

i moved the DW back to replace the missing plants and i moved the balyxia japonica to the middle to get it out of the grass on the left. but everything else i left alone. it kinda looks ok to me but i think the red lily is going into another tank im not liking it their. im trying to save my tank with out money because im trying to scape 2 other tanks.

Tex Gal

It's not worth it. You should just get some Maracyn. Check out this thread http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...xperiment.html

Grubs

I recently did a 4 day blackout and will never do it again. My huge madagascan lace turned to mush and I lost most of my Rotala mexicana and Ludwigia glandulosa. The algae I was trying to defeat (spirogyra) survived the blackout quite well.

oregon aqua

im watching that thread and have very high hopes thank you.

i wont know if gsa is gone for a bit but tank is clear all other algae is still here and their.

if all else fails im thinking of pioneering into algae scaping. some staghorn here and some bba their. i can grow some gda on plexi glass then lay it in the foreground. hmmmmm what to do for a background....

DaveS

I've done numerous blackouts over the years and never had a single fish or plant loss. Perhaps the fact that I keep relatively low tech tanks has something to do with it? I still shudder at the free use of antibiotics that seems to be the answer to everything these days, but I guess I am just old fashioned.

I have never added Excel during a blackout and find that somewhat dubious. I don't know how fast Excel breaks down in a no-light environment, but the plants sure aren't using it at that point.

Dave

Red Leader

I agree with Dave. One thing when I do blackouts is I turn off CO2 injection. The plants aren't using it and it'll drive the pH levels waaayy down. Crypt melt is also normal when conditions change like that.

I also prefer not to use chemicals that supposedly kills algae as well. Take care of the plants needs, put in fauna that eat algae, and you should have a relatively algae free tank.

oregon aqua

i was trying a method i read on another forum.

http://www.barrreport.com/general-pl...ut+excel+green

im not saying its a bad idea but i am saying it was a bad idea lol. it just didn't work for me and i wanted to see if it has worked for others.

i believe if the algae comes back i will try the leave it alone method. this time (because i have tried it before) im getting a blindfold and some handcuffs to keep me away from the mag scraper.