How Long Should You Leave Refugium Lights On For

Refugiums are becoming more and more popular nowadays as people are starting to realise the beneift that they can have upon the aquarium.

Refugiums, as the name states are a refuge for animals to live without fear of predation. It is also an area where macro algae can be grown to assist in the removal of nutrients from the water.

In a normal refugium macro algae is grown to assist in the removal of nitrate and phosphate. In the refugium may also be a scattering of sand, a deep sand bed or even a mud bed.

Macro algae normally will only remove nutrients when it is actively growing and for this to happen it requires a light source.

The best light source to use is lighting which is correct for the growth of plants – this is normally in the lower end of the kelvin scale.

In the display aquarium the lights are left on for between 8 and 12 hours however how long should the lights be left on above the refugium?

There are two answers to this question:

1. The lights are left on for a 24 hour period. With this method the algae is allowed to grow continuously and therefore remove more nutrients from the water column.
2. The lights are lit in what is termed reverse light cycle. What this means is that the lights above the refugium come on when the display aquarium lighting goes off and turn off when the display aquarium lighting comes on.

So what do I recommend and why?

Both options are valid options however I would recommend option 2.

The reason for this is that I like to follow nature. In nature the grass beds are not subject to lighting over a 24 hour period – the receive light when the sun is out!

I also believe that the algae needs a ‘rest’. It requires a lot of energy for the algae to grow and if it grows continuously then problems may occur. This is not something that has been scientifically proven but is something that I believe could happen. It also needs to be remembered that in the refugium other organisms also exist. There will be various types of organisms which, like most life would prefer a period of darkness. I read somewhere, unfortunately I cannot remember where, that in a refugium which was provided with darkness the population of organisms grew however if the lights were on continuously the population did not grow as fast.

There is another area which is important and both of the above methods provide this – pH stability. When the lights go out above the display aquarium there is normally a slight pH drop throughout the hours of darkness. If the refugium is lit throughout these hours of darkness then the pH drop may be countered. As with anything in this hobby stability is key and this is just another area where this stability can be maintained.

So in my opinion the refugium can be lit of a 24 hour period or it can be lit on a reverse cycle however if I was to choose then I would choose reverse cycle for the reasons listed above.

---

Related Posts

• Do You Have To Have Metal Halide Lighting For Hard Corals? Many reef aquarists see hard corals as the height of achievement and the closest thing to a real coral reef in captivity. This isn’t quite...
• Remember To Harvest The Algae In The Algae Bed In a [tag-tec]saltwater aquarium[/tag-tec] it is preferential to have both nitrates and phosphate as well as various other nutrients at the lowest possible level you...
• Cryptic Zones Can Be As Interesting As The Display Aquarium Cryptic zones really interest me. Of course everything in relation to this wonderful hobby is of interest to me but there is something about life...
• At What Times Should The Lighting Be On Above The Refugium In the refugium we are attempting to grow macro algae. The reason for this is that as they grow they remove nutrients like nitrate and...
• Ozone Oxygen is represented as O2, ozone is O3. So it can be seen it is oxygen with an extra! Ozone is unstable and breaks down...

Related Websites

• Frugal Saltwater Aquarium Reefkeeping A few pictures from my reef tank One of my hobbies is maintaining a 75 gallon saltwater reef aquarium. I've mentioned this a few times...
• How to Remove a Car Stereo [/caption]One of the most inexpensive methods to upgrading a car stereo system, is removing the car stereo yourself, and then installing the new stereo. The...
• Painting with Light - Part 1 Understand up front that I'm not going to fudge on my resolution to avoid adjectives to describe the Taj Mahal. But the photos in the...
• Buying Tennis Apparel Tips The amount of time that you decide to spend on tennis apparel is really going to depend on whether you are a male or a...
• Quick Tips for Healthy Weight Loss pt 3 Here is a handful of quick tips that will help you achieve healthy, natural and permanent weight loss. 1 - There is an old adage...

Tags: Aquarium Filter, Aquarium Filtration, Aquarium Maintenance, Care, Equipment, refugium, Water Quality