Refugium Lighting

[JBendel]

Other than the electric bill ... are there any down sides to running the lighting in the refug. 24/7? ... vs. out of phase with the main tank.

The Refugium has mostly Caulerpa prolifera, snails,...supposedly there are some pods .... and a 5" sand bed.

20 gal. refug. ... two 24 WAtt bulbs ... (1 Blue / 1 White)

Thank you,

J.B.

 

[Aquadiva]

There was a thread about this on RC on too long ago. If I recall correctly, the final opinion was that if you need to export excess nutrients because of an algae bloom, run it 24/7. Otherwise, it is not the healthiest thing for the macro and any night loving critters (ie pods) to be under constant light. It is not natural.

I know that when I plant seeds in the winter to put in the garden in the spring, they grow best with at least 8 hours of darkness. I would assume aquatic plants would be similar.

 

[JBendel]

Thank you ... in fact it fits what happened... my nitrates spiked (12.5mg/l) and I had a bit of an algae bloom, but I had to head out on a biz. trip, so not much time to deal with it, so I pulled out the timer and ran the refugium light 24/7 ... and when I came back nitrates were zero, and algae was in retreat,.. and thought "Why not 24/7?" but sounds like I should go back to "out of phase" and monitor the nitrates and adjust timing from there.

Thanks,

J.B.

 

[NateHanson]

The other benefit for running out of phase is that it can help minimize diurnal pH swings, by opposing photosynthesis in the tank (and use of acidic CO2) with nightime photosynthesis in the fuge. That way CO2 is being used at a more constant level, so pH doesn't fall during the night.

 

[denvig]

One word about fuge lighting is to use a bulb in the 6500k range. I had a 5000k bulb on my fuge and had to trim my growth every 3 or 4 days. The bulb burnt out and I put in a 10000k bulb and now its been 2 weeks and little if any growth. Cant wait to get new bulb.