Tom Barr 3 Day Blackout-Update

[Dave Millman <dave at tactics_com>]

The story so far:

Last week I blacked out my tank for 3.5 days to mitigate a severe algae 
breakout, caused when I accidentally unearthed a number of fragmentary 
Jobes spikes.

RESULT:
   * All the BGA algae (cyanobacteria) disappeared completely, like magic.
     I was literally unable to find a single patch. The blackout was totally
     successful in eliminating this stuff.

   * Thick, slimy green hair algae on the glass and cotton candy algae on
     large plant leaves disappeared almost completely. What little remained
     wiped off easily during the post-blackout water change.

   * BBA was significantly diminished, but not eliminated. Lots of tufts
     had fallen to the gravel, or were easily vacuumed from the hair grass.
     Lots more remained.

   * Greenwater was the least impacted. The tank looked like pea soup
     at the start of the blackout-visibility was less than 2 inches.
     Immediately after the blackout, the water was slightly cloudy yellow,
     but you could see every corner of the tank. Three days later, the tank
     was pea soup again. This was disappointing, as I ran a micron filter
     in my Magnum during the blackout in hopes of eliminating this stuff.

The plants and fish survived the blackout OK. They looked dazed on the 
morning of first light, but looked normal by the next day. Three fish did 
not make it-unfortunately a pair of gold rams and a solo apisto female (all 
cichlids?!?) But the Cardinals, Rummynose, Corydoras, SAEs, Ottos, Angels, 
Ancistrus and loaches all look good. Plants haven't grown, but they look 
healthy and do not have algae coats for the most part.

Tonight I am picking up some live Daphnia from Jim Atchinson of The Bug 
Farm at the PCCA meeting. I plan to cultivate these in breeder nets in the 
tank to eat the pea soup. I will also continue weekly large water changes, 
perhaps more often if time allows.

Any other suggestions?