Is there such thing as too much light for a fuge?

[Jcohen9999]

Ok, I'm a relative newbie as my tank is just about 7 months old and I did a lot of reading before setting up my small tank with a huge fuge and sump. I've seen all the conversations on Chaeto verus Calupera and 24/7 verus opposite to tank lighting. I've also seen the 'perfect light for a fuge' thread but I have never read anything about too much light for a fuge so I threw a 400W MH light on my fuge for 4 days and watched my fuge go from this:

to this:

Now my question is: Did all this growth mean anything to my tank as far a nutrient removal go? or did I just basically speed up photosythesis and nothing was removed from the actual water?

Inquiring minds want to know.

TIA,

Jeff

 

[dmiannay]

The larger the quantity (read that as surface area) of macro algae you have the more nutients it will soak up in a given period of time. Certainly a larger ball of Cheatomorpha will consume a larger quantity of nutients than a small bunch.

As for whether you can have too much light... I'm not sure but I don't think so. After all, the sun is very bright and it shines for a good 6 hours in any given day.

 

[Jcohen9999]

Thanks for the response and I get it that more is good (to a point) but the question is: Did the rapid growth (it almost doubled in 4 days) do anything other than produce some thin green macro algae (and burn lots of electricity) or did the rapid growth brought on by the intense light actually cause the removal of nutrients from the water?

Jeff

 

[dmiannay]

Ah... now I better understand what you're asking More intense lighting will certainly stimulate photosynthesis in the macro algae and I believe the more active photosynthesis cycle will translate to more intake (absorbtion) of food.

Not being a Botanist I may be way off here. Hopefully someone with a lot more understanding of plants and photosynthesis will weigh-in on this one.

I'll be following along to get a more accurate scoop

 

[Jcohen9999]

translate to more intake (absorbtion) of food

Exactly what I thought as I was trying to starve out the hair algae that I have in the main tank. Then someone at the LFS suggested that I might have the opposite effect with so much light working (and some hair algae) in my fuge.

As you said, hopefully someone who has some knowledge will weigh in.

In any case, now I have a nice crop of Chaeto to share.

Jeff

 

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

Jcohen9999,

"Did all this growth mean anything to my tank as far a nutrient removal go? or did I just basically speed up photosythesis and nothing was removed from the actual water?" ...
... "or did the rapid growth brought on by the intense light actually cause the removal of nutrients from the water?"

Photosynthesis is the primary mechanism of "nutrient intake." Your Chaetomorpha requires nitrogen (... among several other things ...) for cellular/structural growth. The doubling of the Chaetomorpha did indeed consume meaningful amounts of NH3/NH4 and maybe NO3 (... once the ammonia/ammonium was consumed ...) from the water. Keep in mind that these nutrients are only sequestered until you harvest the Chaetomorpha from the refugium. It is only at this point that you will have achieved "nutrient removal" from the system.


"... too much light for a fuge ...?"

Not in terms of the Chaetomorpha (IMO), but ...
If the 400W MH causes an unacceptable temperature increase throughout your system, I'd call that "too much light." If nuisance algae (that consume nutrients more efficiently than the Chaetomorpha) appear in the refugium and become problematic in terms of sustainable Chaetomorpha growth/health, maintenance of the refugium, or in terms of spreading into the main tank, then I'd call that "too much light."

Something else ... if you ever decide to diversify your refugium's algae population (... if you haven't already. Was that a Mangrove cutting... and something else... I saw in the pics?), you may encounter some incompatibility in terms of different lighting requirements.

On a more obscure level, one of the main benefits (IMO) of a nutrient-exporting algae refugium is the emergence of microfauna and zooplankton populations within the refugium. These populations generate biodiversity (... implying stability ...). These populations can also function as detritovores (... which means they can function in their own nutrient-exporting role ...). Many of these creatures do not tolerate extended periods of bright light well.

For more information on the biological and chemical processes you've set into motion by adding an "algae refugium" to your system, you might want to check out:

"Dynamic Aquaria: Building Living Ecosystems, 2nd Edition."
Adey & Lovelace; Academic Press, 1998.

HTH.

 

[Jcohen9999]

@mesocosm: Yes this helps a lot. You bring up a good point about the 'other' purpose for a fuge beside macro algae propagation. But's nice to know that I was able to share some macro algae with the reef club and actually export some nutrients.

I guess I'll save the light for when I get around to setting up a coral propagation tank.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[gregb]

I tied grape calerpa once, it died after a week. Maybe I should have acclimatised it more slowly.