Choking out GHA

If my tank is FOWLR and i have a GHA problem how long would i have to keep my lights off to choke it out? If its possible...

 

I did mine for three days, with a sheet around it to block outside light too. Killed off all of my cyno this way. I would start with 3 days and see how it goes from there.

 

You would probably need to be completely light free for a week. Look into lowering your nitrate and phosphate levels this will help also. You are either feeding too much, are overstocked or both. What are your water parameters?

 

lucky its a fowlr!

 

nitrate and phosphate levels are both at 0. All params are good. I will admit the tank is over stocked but i test the water bi weekly and every thing stays level its been like this for about a year. I feed a few pellets a few times a day and frozen food, one whole cube every other day. The GHA came in on some rock i got about 6 months (it was pre cured from another tank) the GHA never spread but it also hasent died off yet. I do not have new growth but cannot kill what i do have.

 

Scrub what you have with a brush when you do a water change and throw it out with the water.

 

Call me lazy but it would just be harder since it covers a large area to scrub all of it off and then suck it out...its FOWLR and the tank is in a windowless basement room so i can keep it pitch black for as long as i need

 

The phosphates and nitrates might be at 0 because the algae is consuming them. You should try feeding less, getting some type of CUC(if you don't have fish that will eat them), and maybe lowering the amount of light the aquarium recieves.

 

How much/often should i feed? I know that i do need to work on my clean up crew and its on the list just dont have the money at the moment.

 

how often do you feed them now? CUC are great because not only do they eat the algae, they also eat the junk that will eventually turn into food for the algae, even a few snails would help.