Does lighting affect Live Rock effectiveness ad biofilter?

[ChuckLawson]

Interesting -- thanks! I think my better bet might be to try to plumb a remote sump large enough to try something similar. I guess the criteria really isn't "must be kept dark" as much as "not enough light to grow algae"

 

[JCTewks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12842723#post12842723 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ChuckLawson
Interesting -- thanks! I think my better bet might be to try to plumb a remote sump large enough to try something similar. I guess the criteria really isn't "must be kept dark" as much as "not enough light to grow algae"

Yep!!! Mine is indirectly lit buy the fuge light....but my snails have been reproducing for awhile so there are plenty of tiny herbivores to keep what little algea grows down.

AFIK, there are no cryptic zone organisms that require complete (or near complete) darkness.
The only reason I would see to keep it completely dark is if you have an aptaisa issue and are trying to keep them from gaining a foothold in the LR fuge. I think that small amounts of light might be beneficial to the LR fuge if ony for simulating the daytime on the deep reef so that the microfauna will have something to set their biological clock to for reproductive reasons.

 

[Boxer_Crab]

You will get just as much life on the rock leaving the lights off as you would leaving them on. More coraline will grow with a photo period.

 

[tylorarm]

I have bunch of live rock in sump. Works very well. Clean the bottom for detritus with a shop-vac, which works very well. Tried to do with a powerhead but they get jammed way too often.