Refugium lighting question

[leroytigerjohnson]

So I just set up a fuge again on the quad 125s setup. Question is does anyone run grow lights opposite of display lights, but run a lower powered white light during the day? I have run fuge lights 24/7 for years on end, and also varied schedules. I'm just curious.

 

[Miami Reef]

I think most common suggestions is opposite to reef tank to stabilize PH at night? Don’t quote me on this, but I think algae benefits from some night cycles to respire? I’ll be following.

 

[Reffetsevla]

I run mine 24/7 when I need help getting nutrients down, otherwise I have it kick on when my main lights start their cool down, and turn off when they start their warm up. They "cross" schedules for 1hr at the beginning and end of the cycle. Have had good success with this method over the years.

 

[leroytigerjohnson]

It depends on the algae as to "down time" requirements. I've never had a lot of luck with Chaeto, grape caulerpa on the other hand, that stuff grows like crazy until it goes sexual.

 

[Reffetsevla]

It depends on the algae as to "down time" requirements. I've never had a lot of luck with Chaeto, grape caulerpa on the other hand, that stuff grows like crazy until it goes sexual.

Actually chaeto is exclusively what I've been using haha

 

[leroytigerjohnson]

Well I'm going to try it out for a week or two and see how it goes. I like to see the pretty green algae during the day, and want the growth at night to offset ph swing and reduce nutrients.

 

[leroytigerjohnson]

A year later, fuge it's packed right tight with Chaeto. I did find out that Chaeto has the ability to strip enough trace elements out of the water column to commit suicide. Cleaned it all out, saved a handful of it, added "Chaeto grow" and bam! 4 cubic feet of Chaeto in a couple of weeks again. Been running the grow lights opposite of DT. I always had battled po4 with po4 remover running all the time. Now my po4 hangs right around 0.05ppm