refugium lighting

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

i have never had good luck with refugiums, i can never get my chaeto to grow very well.

the only time i had it growing well was with a very dim PC light in which the bulbs were way over their light time.

now i'm using that screw in bulb that everyone is raving about for refugiums, and it grows slime aglae like crazy, and the slime pretty much chokes out the chaeto...

also, what do you have your timer set for? mine goes off at night for a couple of hours (bout 6hrs i think). could have sworn i saw calfo mention you shouldn't leave it on 24/7. and they need a little bit of dark every night...

what does everyone else do?

btw...i dont have a problem growing caulerpa and hair algae in my main tank...lol

revhtree · Mar 23, 2007

I used a floodlight from Lowes and left it on 24/7 with great results. Chateo grew out of the refugium all the time.

JediReefer · Mar 23, 2007

I have an 18w CF on reverse lighting with great results.

JediReefer · Mar 23, 2007

coralnutz said:
I'm not sure but don't people leave them on at night to help maintain pH? There is a fuge mod for the biocube on RC I was thinking about doing if I move my tank.

Thats why mine is on reverse lighting.

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

i dont even bother monitoring pH b/c i dont have a calcium reactor.

besides, if your pH was swinging due to a fuge light, what would you do to correct it? you'd have to have some ultra expensive controller with probe and doser to counter it.

some people say they have seen pH stabalize on reverse lighting, but back when i had my pH probe i didnt see much of a difference.

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

that and i cant get to sleep when my hallway is illuminated at 2 am in the morning...lol

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

i dont even bother monitoring pH b/c i dont have a calcium reactor.

besides, if your pH was swinging due to a fuge light, what would you do to correct it? you'd have to have some ultra expensive controller with probe and doser to counter it.

some people say they have seen pH stabalize on reverse lighting, but back when i had my pH probe i didnt see much of a difference.

that, and i cant get to sleep if

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

i dont even bother monitoring pH b/c i dont have a calcium reactor.

besides, if your pH was swinging due to a fuge light, what would you do to correct it? you'd have to have some ultra expensive controller with probe and doser to counter it.

some people say they have seen pH stabalize on reverse lighting, but back when i had my pH probe i didnt see much of a difference.

that, and i cant get to s

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

i dont even bother monitoring pH b/c i dont have a calcium reactor.

besides, if your pH was swinging due to a fuge light, what would you do to correct it? you'd have to have some ultra expensive controller with probe and doser to counter it.

some people say they have seen pH stabalize on reverse lighting, but back when i had my pH probe i didnt see much of a difference.

that, and i cant get to sleep if my entire

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

i dont even bother monitoring pH b/c i dont have a calcium reactor.

besides, if your pH was swinging due to a fuge light, what would you do to correct it? you'd have to have some ultra expensive controller with probe and doser to counter it.

some people say they have seen pH stabalize on reverse lighting, but back when i had my pH probe i didnt see much of a difference.

that, and i cant get to sleep if my entire hallway

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

i dont even bother monitoring pH b/c i dont have a calcium reactor.

besides, if your pH was swinging due to a fuge light, what would you do to correct it? you'd have to have some ultra expensive controller with probe and doser to counter it.

some people say they have seen pH stabalize on reverse lighting, but back when i had my pH probe i didnt see much of a difference.

that, and i cant get to sleep if my entire hallway is illuminated

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

what the heck did it do that for again? grrr...

JediReefer · Mar 23, 2007

You wont see a swing because of the light being on, you would see a swing because of having no light. You would see the same pH stabilization in a 24/7 photoperiod as a reverse photoperiod because of algae photoposyntesizing. I guess one advantage to 24/7 would be lower nitrates in the main tank.

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

maybe once i get my new cube tank up and running, so the fuge is completely underneath the stand and keeps the light out of the room at night i'll go w/ a reverse...

but i just cant have it on at night. right now, it goes off at 11pm, and comes back on at 4am.

i'm pretty sure anthony calfo was against a 24/7 lighting cycle, he said the fauna in the fuge do need at least a brief dark cycle (which makes since if you understand how biochemical basis of photosynthesis works)

JediReefer · Mar 23, 2007

I know what you mean about the lighting. I will hear my GF wake up at 4am fumbling around the tank trying to switch it off hahaha.

surfn · Mar 23, 2007

LOL

i have to have it completely dark to get to sleep. i had black out curtains made to block the lights from the parking lot getting through into my room.

on top of that, i work on a reverse shift schedule, so sometimes i come home at 7am and have to try to get to sleep which doesn't work well at all. i *may* get about 5hrs of sleep before i wake up and have to go back to work.