Lowering Photo-period Vs. Blackout

[nerbaneth]

It's time to laugh at me now:
I went away from my tank for 3 days and forgot to turn the lights on 'timed mode'. Meaning.. My lights were on for 3 days.

I am now an algae grower! heh.. Interestingly enough, my plants didn't grow any more than they would have grown in one day (not much) I turned off my lights, and when they came on, there was noticeable growth since when I turned them off. I don't think it means anything, but have fun thinking about it!

On to my question:
I'd like a way to eliminate the algae that I grew those 3 days. My first thought was to Blackout my tank for 3 days - which i have read works really well. My second thought was - lowering the photo-period from 12 hours to only the amount of time where the plants can utilize the light (6-ish hours?) I am currently doing this. Has anyone done something like this, or am I just lowering the amount of time I get to look at my fishies?

Thanks,
-Nerb

 

[ccLansman]

Algae can adapt to light faster than the plants so 6hrs is not really going to help there. You could do a massive trim and spot treat excel, or a blackout with water change and trimming/cleaning. Either way you most likely have to do a really thorough cleaning.

 

[nerbaneth]

I think you have the wrong idea - my tank isn't in a state of crisis. From 5 feet away you can't even tell there is algae.. Just my green spot is a little bit worse (growing on some leaves) and It looks like I have staghorn algae? its like string, but doesn't get longer than a 1/4 inch. These are both algae that I had previously.. they just got a little bit worse. The 6 hour period seems to be making an effect - but I might be crazy.
Thanks.
-Nerb

 

[nerbaneth]

Without taking out all my plants and bleaching/killing them, I have killed off all the algae in my tank (except some green spot algae that seems to grow on fast growing leaves as well as slow growing ones )

All I have done is lowered my photo period to 6 hours and turned off one of my lights(two t5 bulbs). took about a week instead of 3 days - and my plants continued to grow (vs a blackout)

It works, try it sometime

-Nerb

P.S. - obviously this is not an ' ultimate fix', but it did the job until I can fix my problems