refugium lighting

[acasden]

I just set up a refugium and the instructions recommend 24/7 lighting, that seems excessive, how long is correct and do it day or night??? thanks

 

[Anonymous]

What's in your refugium? What are your desired goals for the refugium?

 

[bradl.]

I run mine 16 hours. I keep it off during the hottest part of the day. I think its good for the whole system. Some will disagree and say 24/7 is best.

 

[Anonymous]

^^ what Guy said.

 

[Anonymous]

there are a lot of "refugium lighting" strategies out there. for example:

1. Lighting 24/7
2. Lighting on when tank lights are off

Method one supposedly prevents the caulerpa algae from spawning or "going sexual" as some call it. When algae spawns, it tends to muck up the water, so it is desireable to prevent this.

Method 2 makes the most sense because it tends to help stabilize pH. It does this by reducing the pH drop after main tank "lights out" because it tends to utilize the CO2 being off-gases by the display, and produces O2 as a product of photosynthesis. This method also helps with temp control as mentioned earlier.

I use a hybrid of the two. If it is a new system/refugium, I would run it 24/7 for about a month until it is growing well, then switch over to counter-lighti9ng, i.e. on when the main tank is off, and vice versa.

 

[Len]

I would run it on reverse schedule to your main tank's lights (that is, light the refugium at night). 24/7 is excessive, and organisms need day/night cycles for many processes.

 

[Anonymous]

I have done 24/7 and opposite of tank lights and see no difference whatsoever. So I run mine opposite of the tank lights. Might as well save the power. Seems that all critters would need a break from lights as well. 24/7 is not natural at all.

Louey

 

[fishgills]

I have a 40 gallon Ecosystem (refugium) i went to home depot and got a lights of america light fixture 65watt of white light, all of my macro algae is growing like crazy i run it 24/7.
_________________
Honda Legend

 

[acasden]

wow, what a flurry of responses, i must say 24/7 seems excessive, i will go with opposite of tank lights thanks perhaps this would be a good simple poll question

 

[Anonymous]

It really depends on what the purpose of your refugium is. In my experience the most productive refugiums had no lighting at all.

 

[m-fine]

I just added a fuge myself for 2 reasons, nutrient export and food supply. For nutrient export I might leave the linghts on 24/7 to maximize growth, but I want pods and other critters to breed in there and since many are nocturnal they need dark.

This brings up another advantage of the opposite lighting. When the fuge is dark more pods are out and about and getting sucked back to the main tank where the lights are on and the hungry fish are waiting.

m-fine