Lights Out..

Hairytank · #1 12-04-2008, 05:21 AM

Well, I came back from a 3 day business trip to find the lights on my mixed reef tank had not come on for the entire time I was gone...malfunction of the timer/user.

Everything appears to be doing OK, but the corals were not abundantly happy for obvious reasons. I have fed them Coral Snow and Reef Plus Vitamins and Amino Acids.
Is there anything else I should do to try and “make up” for this..other than turning on the lights of course.

tlo · #2 12-04-2008, 05:56 AM

They should recover without any problems. Once the lights come back on tomorrow, they will probably puff up like normal. You probably even killed off some algae with this malfunction.

Slick Fork · #3 12-04-2008, 06:29 AM

a 3 day lights out period is actually advocated by many. You'll probably find your sand bed a little cleaner and the water a littler clearer tomorrow. I wouldn't sweat it

MikeP · #4 12-04-2008, 03:44 PM

I've wondered about doing a 3 day lights out and have read about the benifits. How would the fish and inverts react to this?

Slick Fork · #5 12-04-2008, 04:15 PM

I've done it infrequently and never had a problem with the non-photosynthetic stuff. If you want to try it I would recommend starting out with a 2 day lights off only. See how everything reacts and then if you're comfortable go for that extra day.

Lots of people do it once a month

Parker · #6 12-04-2008, 04:21 PM

I do a three day lights out once a month. Like others have mentioned it seems to be beneficial.

Hairytank · #7 12-04-2008, 04:58 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone!
I must say, the polyp extension has increased greatly today and the LPS appear to be puffing up a lot more now. I had not heard of temporarily turning the lights off before, I will have to check it out some more. Thanks for the information.

BTW: There was only one casualty from my time away and it is not really related to the lights..one of my Yuma's has dissapeared completly, small attached rock and all. A little odd.