Lighting your Fuge

Bella Vita · Mar 29, 2013

Hey, I had been keeping my fuge light on 24/7 in my 40gal tank. I have always had a low ph issue with it until a friend was saying he heard keeping a light on the fuge 24/7 could mess with the PH. I have also read about people running the fuge light on an opposite cycle to the display tank.
Has anyone heard of this relation and how it works?

Thanks for your help!!

Six2seven · Mar 29, 2013

The idea of the opposite light schedules is that when the light is on, photosynthesis takes place creating oxygen in the tank which raises PH. So when your display lights are on the ph rises but at night when they go out the ph drops. So the idea is to have the light in the refugium turn on when the display light turns off so that the ph will remain steady.

I have always kept my light on 24 hours. I get better growth from my macro algeas by having it on 24/7. Also certain types of algae can go asexual when the lights are off

pgr11 · Mar 30, 2013

Six2seven said:

The idea of the opposite light schedules is that when the light is on, photosynthesis takes place creating oxygen in the tank which raises PH. So when your display lights are on the ph rises but at night when they go out the ph drops. So the idea is to have the light in the refugium turn on when the display light turns off so that the ph will remain steady.

I have always kept my light on 24 hours. I get better growth from my macro algeas by having it on 24/7. Also certain types of algae can go asexual when the lights are off

Perfect explanation. I also keep mine on 24/7 but have run it opposite in the past. My pH stays 8.23-8.35

ep3n3wp · Mar 30, 2013

I used to run mine 24/7. I NOW run it on an opposite cycle than my display tank.

I changed it about a month ago because someone mentioned running 24/7 can contribute to cyano in the tank and on my rocks. Since I changed about a month ago all my cyano in my display is GONE!!!!

In that month I ONLY did a 5 gallon water change and that's it! I don't run a skimmer, or a sock, or gfo. So I can personally say it was changing my fuge cycle that removed my cyano.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

JDEllis · Mar 30, 2013

I also agree with running it opposite your tank. The ocean is not lit 24/7, so why should the same algae need 24/7 lighting once it's in your tank.

The algae will still grow and adjust to your levels (phosphates, nitrates) in the tank along with a good 10-16 hours of light a day. I keep mine on 7pm to 7 am.

Demonkegman · Mar 30, 2013

opposite runs times for me too

wickedfish · Mar 30, 2013

The difference of growth is night and day with 24/7 lighting. I tried the opposite cycle and it was not nearly as good for growth. Why is that important? Well if the rocks expel that phosphate at night it's nice to know my macro may feast on it.

Now if it releases its phosphate during the day then I'm covered too. Either way the difference with out those 12 hours is about triple the growth, say one grocery bag every two weeks. Or a 1 gallon zip lock with just 12 hours.

Led white lights below the 6500k seem to get the best growth. I have a led with other colors and it seems to make a lot of nasty nuisance algae. But on the side I have just a white par38 there is nothing but greenery. Don't know why that is. Topic for conversation.

robert_ellis · Mar 30, 2013

So the overall concensus is opposite cycle? I kind of got lost.

wickedfish · Mar 30, 2013

robert_ellis said:

It depends from what I read here and on all other threads. If ph at night is super low then yes the reverse cycle is ideal. But of your nutrient level is high and over say .08 in phosphate you'd be wise to run your fuge 24/7. Why would you let that macro rest? Growing means its eating.

Also a nice thing about a fuge is it does produce small amounts of phytoplankton. I don't know if its better for phyto to have rest or not and I won't pretend to know. But I believe if you have Sps it's a good idea to run the fuge 24/7. If you have soft coral then I would shut it down at night to let the corals eat.

Bella Vita · Mar 30, 2013

Thanks for the info guys!! I think im going to leave it running 24. Sounds like it s nothing but more beneficial, with minimal cost from my led light.

Lighting your Fuge

Bella Vita

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Six2seven

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pgr11

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ep3n3wp

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JDEllis

Owner @ Ellis Aquatics

Demonkegman

2

wickedfish

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robert_ellis

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wickedfish

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Bella Vita

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