fuge lighting

NM354 · Post by **NM354** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 4:09 pm

I have heard of many different times to have the light on in your refugium but which ways do you guys like to do it. i have heard to do it opposite of when your normal lights are on and i have heard to do it at the same time that your lights are on. what do you think? so far i have had them on while the normal lights were off but i just don't like leaving lights on at night. does it really make any diifference? I am using a cascade 300 for my fuge if you were wondering.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 5:34 pm

I can't speak for everyone but I believe you will see that most people run either a reverse photoperiod or have there refugium lights on all the time. I leave mine on all the time but it is because my light cannot be put on a timer. Either one of these two ways will reduce the ph swings from day to night.

NM354 · Post by **NM354** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 9:54 pm

Thanks for the reply. I guess I will just stick with the opposite lighting method.

SaltnLime · Post by **SaltnLime** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 4:05 pm

I have had much better success running 24-7 in the fuge when using calerpa. There is not a huge ph swing at night (when the MH go off.) I also noticed that my corals show better night polyp extension when the 24-7 fuge light is going. Could be a thousands unrelated reasons why, but if it;s working I try to keep it going even if I am too block headed to understand why

reeferpuffer · Post by **reeferpuffer** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 12:49 pm

same here, i do the same thing

opiy · Post by **opiy** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:11 pm

i read leaving the lights on all the time will also help keep the caulerpa from going sexual also

Only draw back I saw from 24/7 lighting was a little more water evaporation.
I have been running my lights during the same time the display lights are on and off at night, havent really noticed anything bad from it yet.

fishgills · Post by **fishgills** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 5:26 pm

I've also have great success running it 24/7 i also went to home depot and for 30 bucks a got a fixture called lights of america its 65 watts of pure white light what a difference it has made, everything in my ecosytem (same as a fuge) has gone nuts double the growth on all my mirco algae 0 nitraits.

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 9:28 pm

I too use and recommend the LOM (lights of America) 65W on a 10G refuge on a 12 hour (opposite) cycle.