Green hair algae - Why light a sump?

[Mariette]

So, against the advice of my fellow reef2reefers, I intentionally introduced green hair algae to my display tank. I had a qt with a patch of the stuff and I was hooked. I knew it would spread in my DT. I was looking forward to it. But what grew was nothing like my thick luscious patch. What spread is nasty strings of goo. I want it gone.

I’ve researched on here about a 3 day blackout to get rid of it. Few questions:

1 - I have no corals in there yet. But I have inverts and 1 fish. Will they be ok w the blackout?

2 - what’s w the advise to keep a light on in the refugium? I don’t have one. Should I put a light on in my sump? I don’t have any macro algae. Couldn’t I just blackout the whole system?

 

[T_BONE]

With regards to the lights out, the fish and inverts will be just fine. When you have a refugium, you want the algae to grow in the sump/fuge and not in the display tank. This is why you run lights in the sump. You could try manually removal of the gHA or get a cleanup crew that will mow it down. Also keep a check on your water chemistry to keep it at bay as well. Hope his helps.