Refugium lights - reverse light cycle only or on 24/7 ?

[Rob Lion]

I currently have my fuge lights on at night from 6pm to 10am, my main DT lights start ramping up from 8am to 2pm then down again to 8pm.

pH is stable at 8.25 day and 8.21 night (seneye reef)

I'm trying to grow my algae (chaeto) quicker in my fuge to remove more nutrients so that I can stop carbon dosing NOPOX.

Whats everyone's thoughts on refugium lighting times?

 

[jsker]

I run the my light when the DT lights are off from 9 pm to 9 am.

 

[SeaDweller]

I haven't noticed any appreciable change in pH using a reverse cycle, so I just run it before my lights come on and then turn off 12 hours later.

My ph is stable and hasn't dipped below 8.0.

Fwiw, my chaeto grows out of control

 

[Salty1962]

I do a reverse schedule.

 

[Mike_J]

I've been running mine 24/7 but that's only because I'm too lazy now to turn them off/on and I couldn't be bothered to connect to my apex.
My chaeto is out of control.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I run reverse. I have played with 24/7 many times and had better visual results in the dt by using reverse. The co2 o2 respiration of the plants and corals seems more scientifically stable with better results for the corals and plants.(see R Farley article Low PH)

if you want better growth in the fuge, (chato and green plants) change lights. green plants do better with a fuller spectrum. 56k FULL spectrum. (a reef light is not truly full), I also add a 32k bulb to my fuge as well to bolster the R Y and O portion of the spectrum the a typical 50-56k lamp does not have. keep in mind, even though daylight is 65k with a color meter generally, the sun is actually more in the 5000k range as it has more r y & o than the sky. (the sky alone is usually 8 to 10k. with the sun out. (10 to 24k w no sun) weird right?
AND you can increase the intensity of the fuge light as well.

Also the "pink" grow light are supposed to be amazing as well.

 

[Rob Lion]

many thanks all especially @saltyfilmfolks .

My fuge light is a Fluval 16K unit I got with a previous nano tank I had (now my QT tank) its fixed at 16k which is great because i have coraline and frags in my sump that grow great, but the chaeto seems slow, even though ive now upped my nitrates to 1ppm and phosphates to 0.03ppm (salifeit).

I might try a week of fuge lights at 24/7 and see what impact(s) if any it has.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It's a good experiment. You can add a pretty cheap clip light and soft white CFL to it to fill in the warm section of the spectrum.