two questions

[tebriel]

Hi!
1. I had been running my actinics for 4 hrs a day, 1hr before and after white turn on and 1 hr before and after white turn off. I mis-read some posts a while back lol (this was about 4 years ago, I've been running them wrong since). Now that I'm running my actinics the whole span of the "day" I've had a huge brown algae bloom...is that to be expected? The glass was completely covered with it everywhere.
2. If I get a refugium with a overflow box to feed it and the siphon breaks, will the pump just drain out the one section of the box that it's in and then run dry until it burns out? Thusly only adding a small extra amount of water to my tank...or will it overflow the entire refugium. That is assuming I have baffles.

 

[ophiura]

For the brown algae, I would be sure all your other parameters are in check. How old are the bulbs? Yes, you do want to run the actinics all day, IMO

people run them longer (after whites are off) to mimic dawn and dusk - actually two very very important times on a reef.
On the second question, I am assuming you mean the siphon breaks in the u-tube on the overflow box...which is draining tank water to the refugium. If so, yes, it would pump a bit of water to the tank, run dry until burned out. But I am not sure I have your question exactly clear

 

[tebriel]

New bulbs, replaced them over 2 weeks so as to not shock my one soft coral (this was about a month ago with new bulbs). I run them for an hour before and after white light to simulate dawn. But i had been running them before from 10-12 and 8-10 instead of 10-10 and have always run my whites 11-9
Water Params are: trate - 5ish, trite - 0, kh - 300ppm, ph - 7.8 according to the test I just did two seconds ago.
yes, that's exactly what i meant, so it only empties out the chamber that the pump is in, not any of the others, right? The baffles prevent more water from flowing into the last chamber, that was my theory anyways, I just wanted to make sure I was right. So if the siphon breaks I'm out a pump and if the pump breaks i only risk adding what can overflow into the hang-on overflow box to my sump. Righty-o, I think that makes sense. Trying not to flood my downstairs neighbor's apartment if/when I get a refugium.