Fuge lighting

[Gancoob]

I've been hearing opposing thoughts on lighting for my fuge. I have chato in there now. Some people have told me to keep the lights on all the time to stop it from going sexual and sendin out spores. Another source told me about how the lights should run opposite (dt tank lights on when sump lights r off. Sump lights come on when dt light turn off). I heard that using this opposite lighting schedule reduces fluctuations with the ph levels.

What are your thoughts on this?
How do u run ur sump/fuge lighting?

 

[masterswimmer]

1 - Chaeto does not go sexual (caulerpa does)
2 - I prefer the opposite light cycle to help stabilize pH as you mentioned
3 - Try both ways to see how your system responds best.

Russ

 

[Gancoob]

Thank swimmer, are there any benefits that caulerpa has over chato aside from being able to feed the leafs to tangs?

 

[masterswimmer]

Zero benefits and lots of negatives to caulerpa. As a matter of fact caulerpa is illegal to sell in California because it is an invasive species. Problems with caulerpa are not worth the few benefits you might derive. I RECOMMEND NEVER INTRODUCING CAULERPA TO ANY REEF SYSTEM. As a matter of fact, there is an entire Nat Geo documentary on caulerpa and the problems it causes in nature. Avoid at all costs. Let the flame wars begin Obviously some people have it in their systems and will attempt to extol the virtues of it, and say they've never had a problem with it. Don't buy into it.

Russ

 

[ClownAquatics]

Both of russ post are solid advice. On our personal tank we run opposite light schedule with cheato only. We are running fathom par30 bulbs and they work well

 

[Geraud]

I am running mine at the same time as my tank because I have a light "down there" for my brine shrimp cultures.

Caulerpa in the sump, but because it came on my live rock (FYI, I know the dangers of this algae... when I remove some manually it goes in a container in my freezer for a couple of days before I get rid of it, and when I do a water change I pour bleach and let sit for one hour before disposing of the bucket of dirty water).

As for the lamp, I got a nice 5000K LED Par30 lamp (Ecotech) from Home Depot.

 

[Imbarrie]

The pH swing mentioned earlier is caused by the macroalgae taking in CO2 and releasing O2 during the light cycle through photosynthesis. CO2 is suspended in the water as carbonic acid, this affects pH. If your DT light is on the algae in the tank works to remove this but stops when the lighting cycle is over.
You can run the fuge on the opposite cycle to keep this process going when the DT light is off. If you run both the DT and fuge at the same time you increase the swing in pH.
The severity of the pH swing will depend on the amount of fish and algae present in the system. I dont know how much the swing is but that is the thought process behind running them on opposite cycles.