Refugium light on during night
- Thread starter singold
- Start date
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
It helps stabilize pH, but also oxygen and other dissolved gasses.
When involved in photosynthesis (because they are under light), plants consume carbon sources (mostly CO2 from the water column) and release oxygen. This helps "buffer" or raise the pH, since CO2 is acidic in solution. When involved in respiration (in the absence of light), plants consume oxygen, and release CO2. This can cause the pH to drop a bit.
You have two planted environments in your tank - the display tank (corals contain symbiotic algae, plus the coraline and other algae growing on your rock) and your refugium. If you were to light them on the same schedule, they'd both be raising the pH and oxygen content during the day; while lowering the pH and oxygen content at night. Hence, most reef keepers tend to run their 'fuge lights at night, which creates a much more stable environment - one plant community is taking in oxygen and releasing CO2 while the other one is taking in CO2 and releasing oxygen.
When involved in photosynthesis (because they are under light), plants consume carbon sources (mostly CO2 from the water column) and release oxygen. This helps "buffer" or raise the pH, since CO2 is acidic in solution. When involved in respiration (in the absence of light), plants consume oxygen, and release CO2. This can cause the pH to drop a bit.
You have two planted environments in your tank - the display tank (corals contain symbiotic algae, plus the coraline and other algae growing on your rock) and your refugium. If you were to light them on the same schedule, they'd both be raising the pH and oxygen content during the day; while lowering the pH and oxygen content at night. Hence, most reef keepers tend to run their 'fuge lights at night, which creates a much more stable environment - one plant community is taking in oxygen and releasing CO2 while the other one is taking in CO2 and releasing oxygen.
kzickovich
Member
I just run mine 24/7
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
That's certainly a valid option, though depending on the species of algae you're keeping, there have been examples of that causing problems in the longterm.
Personally, when in doubt, I defer to nature. On the reef, these algae are not illuminated 24/7, so I don't subject them to that in my care.
FWIW, I did run one of my first refugiums on 24/7 lighting, and honestly I didn't see a huge difference between that and a shorter photoperiod in terms of growth.
