Should I extend my blackout

I am having a problem with what I believe is dinoflagellates (brown snot) and understand this can be some wicked stuff to get rid of. I installed a GFO reactor 2 weeks ago and today is the 4th day of my blackout. (just threw a sheet over the tank and unplugged the lights. there is still a soft ambient glow that is getting through the sheet). I peeked under the sheet today and noticed a bit of dark green/blackish cyano on the sand but I dont see any dino's. I was wondering If I should continue the blackout until the cyano dies or go ahead and remove the sheet and start light acclimating my corals back to normal? Also, Im having a hard time keeping my pH high enough during this blackout, pH is at 8.0 and I have been dripping kalkwasser to raise it but it doesnt seem to be working. Any tips? thanks guys

 

I just went through this. Wish I could say i was successful. I went dark for about 4 days and slowly added light. few hours a day and didn't want to shock my corals. Things looked good for about a week. Well looks like the snot is back.. UGH. You may slow them down but really have to figure out the root of the issue. That is what I am having the hardest time with. Trying to figure out why I have them.

I am not much help but hopefully you will have a different outcome. What are your levels? I heard that raising the pH can help greatly.

 

4th day use actinic.
if you have a chronic problem, it might be that you have too much nutrient in the water.


are you feeding during lights out?

 

My nitrates and phosphates are undetectable.
SG 1.025
PH is what I am having problems with at 8.0 (just started to drip kalk faster so we will see)
I have never tested for Mg (don't have a kit)
Calcium is always 400-450
ammonia and nitrites are zero of course
tank is 2 years old with a refugium (chaeto doesn't grow anywhere near as fast as it used to)
No I do not feed at night
I don't think i overfeed at all. (cube of mysis every other day, a small square of nori for the yellow tang, and only feed my corals a cap-full of zoo-plankton once a week.

It's not like its taking over the tank or growing out of control. It's just annoying to look at and keeps growing on a few corals especially my acropora.

 

Also, not sure if this is related to the dino or if it was an issue with temp swings before I got my chiller, but it seems like my CUC population has dramatically declined. I know I had about 400 astria's, florida ceriths, dwarf ceriths, nerites, nassarius, turbos and blue leg hermits about a year ago and now I look at my glass at night and only see about a dozen snails.

Also something strange and not sure if related, my pod population became extinct a few months ago (funny thing is i dont have any pod eaters and even if I did there would still be some in my fuge). I looked night after night after night for about a month straight and did not see ONE single pod in the tank OR in my refugium. About the same time I added my GFO reactor (2 weeks ago), I also ordered a bag of pods from John and now my pod population is making a HUGE comeback.