Lights on time

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule regarding this, but it seems the preferred method is this...

Light your sump/DSB on a reverse cycle to your other lights, in other words, when your display lights go off then your sump lights come on, this assists in keeping your PH level more stable, you don't get too much of a drop in PH at night.

Some aquarists light their DSB's 24/7, some do it the same as their tank lights.
 
Some aquarists do it 24/7 and some do it when the lights are off :D
 
If your dsb is run in sump, i feel that adding light is not necesscary, in fact I believe it is counterproductive.Rather incorporate a seperate section for chaeto which you can light 24/7 or reverse cycle or on same schedule as display.
Please read my reply in this thread: http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/showthread.php?t=1478
 
I think the problem a lot of us face is that a DSB doubles up as a refugium.. as in my case, what was strictly a sugar fine aragonite DSB is now home to a goby and a piece of LR with a button polyp ( which my banner took a liking to ) now, I have been lighting on reverse cycle for 3 months, in this case which is the best way to manage it.. if you could touch on that please.

Sorry Herkie if I am hijacking

Muz
 
For starters remove the goby, especially if it is the sandsifting type. It will annihalte biodiversity in your sandbed, therefor reducing efficiency. The purpose of the sandbed providing food to tank inhabitants is also not gonna happen if it is continuosly exposed to predation.
 
As mofro said,it is a must that you remove the goby from the DSB/refugium. By definition a refugium does not have any fish or other predators in. And DSB's are very effective when continually disturbed. A pure DSB does not need any light.

As for algae in a refugium if you are using algae like chaeto that isn't going to go sexual you can light on a reverse cycle (ie. refugium lights on when tank lights are off) to avoid the pH drop at night by having something in the system always photosynthesising. However if you are using algae like caluerpa that is at risk of going sexual you will need to run the lights 24/7 so that it never goes sexual.

The "best" way would probably to get as accurate a pH tester you can and then test regularly to see the trends between day and night and then try tweak the lighting on the refugium and possibly calcium/kalk reactors to keep it as stable as possible.
 
Thanks for all the reply's guys. A lot of questions was answered in one go. I will be adding an extra sump in a week or twos time, would it be even better to divide it in two and have one as a refugium and one for cheato only?
No hijacking Muz I like to call it extra stimulation in order to get even better answers.
 
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