# Will a blackout kill my plants?



## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Long story short, for some reason brown, fuzzy hairlike algae is running wild over my moss. I got the diatoms too!

Will a blackout to kill the algae hurt my plants as well?  

And should manual removal+black out+Rescape be enough to deal with it? I also got a fert dosing kit so it's more precise.

For what it is worth, I have a 12" tall 10 gallon with 2 CFL 13 watt 6500k bulbs and about 8 hours of light going at the moment.


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

If it can kill the algae it will kill the plants more than likely. I'd remove the plants and clean the tank or just black out. Either way you can't black out the plants long enough to kill algae and not them.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Got cha. I think I'll do manual removal and rescaping. Would potassium permanganate dip help? 

Also adjusting the light and ferts. Is 8 hours of those too much?


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

8 hours should be fine, although someone with more knowledge about lights will chime in. I just do a 10% bleach dip for 3 minutes for everything not living (plus some species like anubias) and a hydrogen peroxide treatment for the other. Breaks down into water and oxygen so it's relatively safe for use in aquariums (as long as the dose isn't huge)

Rinse the bleach off real well, I believe it's called. The lick test. If its not clean enough after bleach to lick its not clean enough to go in the tank


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Thanks. I seem to be out of bleach. D'oh!


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

If its on your moss, you sure its not rhizoids?

Basically little roots the moss grows. Means its happy. 

Look like this?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Plants are tougher than algae. They'll survive a blackout.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

No, it's algae. Literally piles of algae. Hairy, disgusting, free loading, hating the free world algae. And I'm going to try cutting the photo period back, using the fert doser kit (yay!), and manual removal alongside the rescape.


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

I've had algae growing in tanks with no light more often than the other way


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Well. I'm going to cut back from 8 hours to 6 or so. I'm going to the petstore today, so I think a timer is in order.  I also think the fert dosing kit will help me make sure I'm not putting in anymore than things need. I suspect clean up+adjustment will help.


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## milesm (Apr 4, 2006)

i've done several 72 hour blackouts coupled with double dosing excel and have no problems with the plants. algae (string, hair, bba) died off, probably more due to the excel. i get better algae control when using excel with a 3 day blackout.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Would that hurt my Sueswassertang? I know it doesn't grow as well with Excel around apparently.


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