Lights on Fuge...

[abe77901]

Should I leave on 24/7 or put on timer like the rest of the lights on the tank? New to a sump/fuge....

[::pete::]

Run it on an opposite cycle with a timer.

[btacker]

Does a fuge / sump really need a night cycle?

I've been running mine 24/7. I haven't seen any problems that I know of. My macro seems to be growing well.

Are there issues with running 24/7

[::pete::]

I havent heard of negative effects from either way. The reverse cycle helps to stabalize the PH.

[RobertG]

The Fuge wont need the same cycle as the main tank. It helps to run it on a reverse period from the tank, this will help mantain your ph from swinging so bad. Some run them 24/7 to keep calaurpa from going sexual.

I run mine on, opposite of the tank. About 12Hrs.

I have seen some use regular florescent tubes. Or a flood spot of some kind. A search on reefcentral, has some good info. I am going to run T5's on mine, changing from the 96w PC's.

HTH

[captexas]

I run mine at night when the display tank lights are off to help balance the PH as the others have mentioned. At night there is no photosythesis occuring therefore less oxygen being used/more carbon dioxide in the water. This drops your PH. Having the lights on for the fuge at night only will help balance this so there is not such a large swing. Having the lights on 24hours a day will not do this of course, there will still be that drop. Plus your bulbs will last much longer! lol

[::pete::]

Or a flood spot of some kind.

This is the flood (http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html) mentioned above if interested.

[btacker]

At night there is no photosythesis occuring therefore less oxygen being used/more carbon dioxide in the water. This drops your PH. Having the lights on for the fuge at night only will help balance this so there is not such a large swing. Having the lights on 24hours a day will not do this of course, there will still be that drop.

Why would photosythesis stop just because my main tank lights go out?

Why wouldn't the fuge keep doing photosysthesis?

Why would the drop still happen if the lights in the fuge are on?

[SaltyJim]

You will still get a pH swing if you run your lights in the fuge 24/7. The lights in the main tank go off, the micro algeas in the tank, substrate, rocks etc stop photosynthesis and you get the pH drop.

Keeping the lights on in the fuge will help keep the pH up when you main tank lights are on, but does notinhg to stop the drop. You have in effect lessend the amount of buffer you need to add during the day by having the fuge lights on, but made the tank susceptable to the drop as if there were no fuge at all. Keeping the lights in the opposite cyle will help that because of the fact that you will still have photosynthesis happening 24 hours at almost the same rate as when your tank lights are on.

I hope that was clear enough. Can't really tell if I made sense or not.

Jim

[RobertG]

Or a flood spot of some kind.

This is the flood (http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html) mentioned above if interested.

Yeah, Thats the one. :-D

[btacker]

Ok... so if I had to restate that:

Your PH still drops because there are fewer things doing photosynthesis.

I can understand that.

[wkopplin]

I run the reverse light cycle on my tanks. In addition to keeping the pH stable, it also helps to keep the heat down. I run a computer program on my system that tracks the ph throughout the day and also tracks temp and orp. It graphs it all out so I can see when any variations occur. Ever since I switched to keeping the fuge lights on at night, my pH barely moves.

[Tim Marvin]

I have done both ways, and now I just run the lunar cycle because I still get good growth and less electricity. 24/7 will grow tons of macro!

[captexas]

Btacker - light is needed for photosynthesis. With the lights out in the main tank, there is an increase in CO2 causing the PH to drop. If you have lights on in the fuge, photosynthesis will occur there and will help use up some of that CO2 being produced by the organisms in the main tank. Running the lights in a reverse cycle is a way to help keep levels somewhat balanced in the system. As others have mentioned, this is just an option, you will find people that use both methods as they both have their advantages. Hope that helps.

[theedprado]

anyone experiment with using generic (home depot) 4000k mh bulbs over fuge?

[alexwolf]

i am using 150w GE reveal on $6 clip lights, and actually seeing growth!!!!!

[GaryP]

Let me ask this again because I couldn't get a clear understanding and I'm sure I wasn't alone.

Other than using a little more electricity, what is the down-side to running the fuge lights 24/7? I got the impression someone was trying to say that there was not a pH stabilizing effect if you ran 24/7.

Gary

[captexas]

Gary - I would suppose it would depend on how the bioload in your fuge compares to that of in your tank. Atleast as far as the level of photosynthetic organisims.

I'm not an expert by any means, but logic would tell me that if you leave the lights on all the time over the fuge, then that level would stay the same and when the lights over the tank turned off, you would still have a noticeable drop in your PH there. In that situation there is nothing to pick up the balance that was being used up by the main tank. When you have your lights running in a reverse cycle, your fuge will pick up where your main tank left off. This assumes you have a decent amout of life in your fuge. Again, this is just me using my logic and of course Spock was wrong at times, lol

[GaryP]

Well, someone said that running lights 24/7 would not have the same pH stabilizing effect that running them on reverse cycle would. My understanding is that the puepose of a refugium, at least in terms of pH is to act as a CO2 scrubber at night. I don't see how it would be less effective if the lights were on 24/7 than they would if they were on a reverse cycle only.

Gary

[astrong]

There is no advantage to running 18/6 other than saving electricity/lamp life.
BUT the disadvantages are less NO3/PO4 consumption. Plants only photosynthesize when the light are on (lets ignore the Krebs cycle) so leaving them on 24/7 is best for nutrient uptake. Remember that photosynthesis involves the removal of CO2 (an acid) and the addition of O2(a base.) So whenever lights are on above any part of your tank you are leveling/raising pH.

Day cycle is for vegetative growth, Night cycle is for reproductive responce(circadian clock.)

Home Depot bulbs are fine for a fuge. They are low Kelvin/high intensity/cheap which are all good for macros.