Refugium photoperiod?

[FishinInTheDark]

How long do you leave the lights on in your 'fuge?

I understand that a reverse photoperiod decreases pH swings, and that a twenty-four hour photoperiod gives optimal macro growth while also reducing pH swings. But, besides nutrient export, I want to boost my pod population, and since they're by and large nocturnal, wouldn't having the lights on all night when they should be "getting busy" slow their reproduction? Also, to anyone who does the twenty-four hour thing, does micro algae grow like crazy too, or do your macros out-compete it?

Thanks for your responses. . .

Conni

[Condiman]

I would say opposite of your main tanks lighting scheduel.

I am with condiman on this one. I run mine about 10hrs a day as far as length goes. I am sure running 24/7 might get more growth but I am just not down with burning any more electricity than I already do!

[icereefer]

I run my lights 24/7 in my refuge, and my chaeto is some green and thick my pods grow like crazy too. some macro's like caulerpa need down time on the lights.but mine grow very well and hasn't cycled out yet. but then again my other macros live under my thick cheato

[MikeS]

wow....now that's an algae scrubber if I ever saw one, Jim! :eek2:

I have heard that having fuge lights in a photo sump on an opposite time from the main tank helps stabilize pH swings....


Mike

[Sugar Magnolia]

I did like icereefer does in my cpr fuge I had on the minibow. Ran the little 13 watt jali light 24/7 and had enormous chaeto. boy do I miss my fuge...no place to hang one on the cube with the hob and the skimmer on the back. sniff, sniff. :(

[cich1]

iwas running mine on a reverse schedule until my crappy timer quit working now its on 24/7 iguess i'm just lazy :(

[FishinInTheDark]

cich1! :lol:

Guess I got it easy, just turn it on on the way to work and turn it off when I get back home. Yeah thats kinda odd I know but after the "canopy fire" that would have burnt my house down had I not been late to work getting out the door....That is the only light I leave on unless I am at home. It does kinda "bite" to have my house light up like a "grow-op" all night, But I just cant handle another blast to the ticker like that!

[russ1974]

How long do you leave the lights on in your fuge?

We use 24 hr lighting on refugium setups for our customers tanks. It gives you something to look at during the night :) Normally the pods find dark places under the algae to reproduce and hide. We have some hair algae growth, but it's minimal and keeps it out of the main tank this way. This refugium has prolifera that is about 4 months old, it actually stops growing rapidly at this stage until it is cut back. We have not had any loss with this type of setup.

http://www.liveplants.gulf-coast.net/images/aquatank16.jpg
front view
http://www.liveplants.gulf-coast.net/images/aquatank15.jpg
left side of refugium

My apartment is quiet the dungon even during the day it is pretty dark. I usually run my fuge lights from about 7:00 am to about 5:00 pm, then other lights start cutting on as those on the refugium go off. Other than an occasional powdering on the glass I have not yet had any algae problems except Coralline algae and that aint a problem, at least yet. Most of my refugiums are fairly large too, so I am not sure how much that may factor into the equation of things.

Since the fire I am a little gunshy about leaving anything on that doesnt absolutely have to be on, when I am away from the place.

BTW...I really like those refugiums. They look pretty sweet. The three I am running could give the displays a good run for thier money too. I finally set one up above one of my tanks that will gravity feed back into the display. I wanted to kinda experiment with that concept a bit and see if it was really worth the trouble. In a few months I will get back with a report on what conclusions I came to about that set up.

[FishinInTheDark]

Expat,

Mine gravity feeds into my display also. The only thing I don't like about this is that I get a lot of bubbles tumbling into the tank along with the water. I'm considering gutting an HOB filter and putting the return into there to hopefully pull out some of the bubbles. My fear is that I'm going to be changing from a Cap 1800 pump to a Mag Drive 1800 which has much, much, much more flow, and I don't want to overflow the HOB! Are you having an issue with bubbles?

Here's a pic of what I have for now. The white tube on the left is the return. (Parenthetically, I got a diatom bloom from the new aragonite sand, I believe. And, that lower wall is primed for paint, so sorry for the gunky look! Also, I've decided on a reverse photoperiod because that window gets a decent amount of daylight, so I'll use the free light too!)

Russ: nice pics! Thanks!

Conni

[cich1]

thats a nice set up Fishin, i'm getting ready to set up a 10g fuge but with the space i have to work with makes it to difficult to have the return gravity feed to the display tank so i'm just going to plumb it to the sump, i drilled the hole for the bulkhead last night and maybe i can paint the back tonight and get it set up this weekend

[FishinInTheDark]

Cich1,

I'd almost rather have mine out of sight too, but there is not room under the tank. You'll enjoy your new fuge, I'm sure! I'm just enjoying having something new to fuss with!

Conni

[cich1]

my fuge won't be hidden either it is going to sit right next to the display so i can enjoy the life going on in there too, i like fiddling with things also and i think if its right out there where i have to look at it i will tend to keep up with cleaning and pruning

Thanks for the In-put FishingInTheDark, the pic is nice too to see.

I have gotten it installed but its not yet running. It will be today after Ace Hardware opens though! I decided that prehaps another 2x4 to better stabilize/stiffin up the shelf (the stand can shake a bit the shelf itself that the tank sits on is fine. I weight tested it with about 800lbs before putting it in place) would be a prudent move on my part. It would probably be okay but "suprises" aint too cool, you know what I mean. It is a 65 gallon refugium and will be pretty heavy and there was just a little bit of shake in that stand to give me a warm fuzzy. So I havent had a chance to see if bubbles are a porblem yet. Since its servicing a large Frag growout tank this will have little effect for me. I can see where that would be a problem for a display though for sure and I dont have any real ideas for you to fix that. BTW... the tank I am using for a refugium is a 65 gallon RR tank I picked up for 50 bucks from the LFS, apparently they sold a set up to a lady and then scratched it when they were loading it so they had to replace it. I scammed on a essentailly new RR tank with a minor little scratch thats only noticable if your looking for it, what a deal!