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[dangerfish]

So I have a refugium but the algae in it is dying and I have a light and the water in the tank is good quality i mean I have hermit crabs reproducing and clownfish growing, and algae growing inside the display, so what can I do to help save the algae I have left. Do I need sand in the refugium?

 

[lmforbis]

What kind of light are you using on your fuge?

You don't need sand.

 

[deejeff0442]

Exactly it's about light not sand. Imo add a phosphate reactor

 

[dangerfish]

I'm using the eshops refugiam light and it's on 24/7(is it possible that it is getting to much light)

 

[lmforbis]

I find my fuge plants do better with a period of dark. I run it opposite of the tank. It could be it isn't getting enough light. The eshopps fuge light I looked up has only 3 3W LEDs, maybe not enough. I use a cheap 23W cfl from home depot and a cheap fixture from the same place.
It isn't pretty but the chaeto grows great. I did have a time where it didn't grow well. I had the fuge covered for a while and that seemed to be an issue. Once I took the acrylic cover off the top things have been doing great.

 

[one-fish]

Maybe having similar issues running a 36w grow light red and blue LED's 16 hrs about a foot from sump water level haven't seen any light green grow have been turning daily P04 is .25 ppm. Newly cycled tank did see small diatom bloom then small green hair algae nothing major. Wanting to grow chaeto to help balance tank, but can diy a phosphate reactor w/phos guard if thats a better option. Heard of dosing low levels of iron..to get chaeto going. Not into the chem's like nature doing it's thing...but like the idea of growing macro algae

 

[one-fish]

Thanks I see from your pic that your light is positioned over the sump and like 4-6 from surface I may need to readjust mine

 

[one-fish]

Dangerfish The debate is on about light duration some say 24/7 others say opposite of DT lighting did some research and decided opposite of DT's not that it helps .. hell I can't grow it yet ,,but it's what I went with..

 

[lmforbis]

My light is probably 3-4 inches from the surface. I also run a phosphate reactor.

 

[2quills]

FWIW I run a 24/7 cycle and I get far more growth than a 12/12. 12 Osram 660 nm and 2 neutral white Cree XPG's.

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2 weeks worth of growth.

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[Shilpan]

Just adding my own refugium findings, I had 24/7 lighting and caulerpa grew like mad.

I then added chaeto so now my lighting isn't 18hrs on to give Thebes's chaeto a rest period. I still get good growth from both but the caulerpa serrultata has slowed down. However my nitrates are also 5 now so maybe that's it

 

[2quills]

Just out of curiosity can anyone here tell me why a "rest" period is necessary?

I only ask cause I always get better growth with a 24 hour photo period and I've tried 12/12, 18/6 and 10 on/2 off-10on/2 off.

 

[lmforbis]

I always assumed it had to do with respiration. Not sure though I'm a chemist and sucked at biology.

 

[florida joe]

For what it’s worth way back when I was looking into Kent Biosediment for my refug . I mailed Kent marine asking about 24/7 lighting for the refug. This was their response that I kept in my notes “ One thing to remember is to never, never, never run the lamps 24 hours a day… NEVER! Just like plants, algae need a break from photosynthesis, and keeping the lights on all day and all night will cause the algae to enter a reproductive phase (i.e. they turn milky-white and disintegrate, releasing nutrients back into the system and lowering water quality). The best idea is to have the refugium lights (a pair of 6,500K tubes is usually ample) on 8-10 hours a day, or rather night (when the lights in the main aquarium are off).

 

[2quills]

For what it’s worth way back when I was looking into Kent Biosediment for my refug . I mailed Kent marine asking about 24/7 lighting for the refug. This was their response that I kept in my notes “ One thing to remember is to never, never, never run the lamps 24 hours a day… NEVER! Just like plants, algae need a break from photosynthesis, and keeping the lights on all day and all night will cause the algae to enter a reproductive phase (i.e. they turn milky-white and disintegrate, releasing nutrients back into the system and lowering water quality). The best idea is to have the refugium lights (a pair of 6,500K tubes is usually ample) on 8-10 hours a day, or rather night (when the lights in the main aquarium are off).

What if I told you that chaeto only goes sexual in unfavorable conditions vs caulerpa that goes sexual in favorable ones?

Respiration is something that occurs durring the day and night for most macro algaes and terrestrial plants. The only thing that stops is photosynthesis since the sun goes down in nature.

I've been running primarily 24 hour photo periods for the better part of 2 years even before this last time I broke down and moved the tank. Chaeto, will eventually get too large and start to turn light in color. At which point I know I need to trim it back soon before portions begin to die.

I've tried shorter cycles but I always get less growth and notice algae growth on the glass will start coming back quicker.

Nowadays, it's more intuitive. I know that if I remove X amount of chaeto from the fuge every couple of weeks or so then it stays green and grows good. I also think a good salt mix with trace elements with things like iron and manganese etc. are highly beneficial.

 

[florida joe]

what if i told you that using alternate lighting between your refug and your DT helps with ph swings. and caulerpa goes sexual in NON favorable conditions

 

[lmforbis]

What kind of light are you using Quills. Is it a redish one or is that just the pic?

 

[2quills]

As a ph buffer between day and night cycles IME is hardly worth noting. Different environmental contributions in various geological locations I can't speak for.

On a 24h fuge photo period my tank can swing maybe by 0.1 maybe 0.2. But it's small enough to argue that my kits aren't truly sensitive enough to tell me the real difference.

And what I'm saying is the cloudy/nasty situations commonly experienced with caulerpa are virtually non existent in the hobby when it comes to chaeto. Not to say it isn't possible. But if it happens then it probably means you have worse problems on your hands.

.02

 

[florida joe]

It is worth noting if the hobbyist has a great swing in day time and night time ph and what i am saying is your statment that "caulerpa that goes sexual in favorable ones" as far as conditions go is not accurate

 

[2quills]

What kind of light are you using Quills. Is it a redish one or is that just the pic?

The pink is from both the redish colored light and all of the vibrant pinkish/purple coraline.

The lighting was a diy pet project of mine. I initially made two fixtures for an algae scrubber build. But when I took out the scrubber I consolidated down to 1 fixture.

It's comprised of 12 Osram 660nm (wavelength) red leds. Osram was on the cutting edge of designing leds for the horticulture industry at the time and still is. And 2 cree XPG neutral white leds that provide light in wavelengths across the spectrum but are heavy in blue.

Essentially, I designed it to target specific areas for photosynthesis to occur. I also went nuts and made it dimmable as well as programmable.

But they are also probably much more powerful than what others are using. So to those people in this thread I think you need to increase your light sources. 23w compacts work good too. I've used them as well.

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