DSB's & 24/7 Lighting?

[happyclam]

Can a DSB function under 24/7 lighting? Would it make a difference if you had a mat of cheato algae growing, to provide partial shade? If not, should the light cycle be reverse that of the main tank's light cycle?

 

[meschaefer]

Yes, you can run a DSB under 24/7 lighting.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

You can...but why would you want to? That's alot of wasted electricity

I'm a big fan of running it on a reverse photoperiod, but in reality you don't need more than 4-6 hours.

 

[happyclam]

Would it be OK if I ran the refugium lighting on th same cycle as my main tank lighting? Would I have to worry about the algae depleating oxygen over night?

 

[happyclam]

The reason I wanted to run lighting 24/7 is because sump/fuge also has cheato algae in it. I thought the benefits were: 1) Premium Aaquatics said the algae would grow faster under 24/7, and I'm aslo trying to use the cheato as nutrient export, so win-win. 2) the algae would always be an oxygen producer since it always under light. 3) ph wouldn't fluctuate as much since the algae is under 24/7 lighting.
But the problem is that my DSB is underneath the cheato, and since most of the organisms in a DSB come out at night, I wasn't sure if that would reduce or even kill the effiency of the DSB.

 

[itZme]

I have found (as well as others I have talked to) that chaetomorpha will slow in growth and start to actually fade back a bit after several months of 24/7 lighting. I assume it is like most plants and needs a resting period. I run my 140g fuge with 8" DSB using about a 2 hour overlap so that the macro starts photosynthesizing before the corals stop and I see swings of PH from 8.39 to 8.30 overnight. I would start your fuge lights at least an hour before turning off the display.

This is just my findings and you may have other results. That is one thing about this hobby... there are lots of ways to do things and many will work. You just have to find the one that works for you.

Good luck,
-- Kevin