- I'm Thomas, and these are the top
five most frequently asked questions on refugium lighting,
starting with what color light is best for a refugium?
The majority of refugium lighting available
uses a refined hydroponic spectrum
containing mostly or only blue and red diodes,
producing what is on often refer to,
at least by me, as a blurple spectrum or color of light.
The red and blue diodes focus
on the most important peaks for photosynthesis
and omit white or full spectrum diodes
to try and get the most possible
par per watt out of the fixture,
since the light doesn't need to be
visually pleasing to our eyes.
Can I use white light?
Absolutely, and in most cases,
I still prefer to use a white light over my refugium,
because it makes viewing and monitoring
the macroalgae easier to do.
And I find that the blurple color
is a little bit hard in the eyes
when I open up my stand.
Tthe par difference also isn't quite as dramatic
as you might think, so you won't suffer
a major difference in growth
if you to use a full spectrum white light.
Just be sure it's still meant to grow
aquatic plants or corals, so it contains
the necessary photosynthetic peaks for rapid growth.
There are also refugium lights
like the Kessil A360X that offer both
blurple growth spectrum as well as a bit of white light.
So you can switch between the two
when doing maintenance or checking on the algae,
giving you the best of both worlds.
How much light do you need for your refugium?
How much light you need over your refugium
can vary quite a bit.
But the general school of thought
is that if you want to out-compete
the algae in your display tank,
then your refugium lights should be providing
at least the same amount of par as your display tank lights.
Now that doesn't mean you need the exact same light fixture
for your refugium, since your refugium
is likely way smaller than your display tank.
You just need a light source that's going to achieve
similar par numbers for that smaller space.
Now, with that said, if you have lots of fish
and you tend to feed a lot,
you may find that having a stronger refugium light
will perform better at reducing nutrients
like nitrate and phosphate since the macroalgae
will be able to photosynthesize at a higher rate.
Personally, I really like options
that allow you to adjust the intensity,
because it turns your refugium into a tuneable filter.
If your nutrients start to drop too far,
you can turn down the light.
And if those nutrients start to creep back up,
you can turn the light back up.
When should the refugium light be on and for how long?
While it's usually our instinct
to have lighting on during the day,
the best time to run our refugium lighting
is actually at night while our display tank lighting is off.
The primary reason for doing this
is to help prevent those nightly pH swings,
which in general is just another
great reason to run a refugium.
While all the corals are photosynthesizing during the day,
they soak up CO2 in the tank and the pH stays high.
But when the lights go off on the tank,
the CO2 can start to creep back up
and the pH starts to drop.
By running the refugium at night, the chaeto,
or whatever other macroalgae you're using,
can soak up that CO2 instead,
which prevents the pH from dropping like it normally would.
So yes, the refugium light should run opposite
to the lighting on the tank, all night long.
Do you need to tumble your chaeto?
Keto, chato, cheeto, potato?
The short answer is no.
But there is some benefit to doing it.
There are some benefits to tumbling your chaeto,
including making sure it gets lit
evenly from all sides for maximum growth,
which can be helpful to prevent unwanted die-off
at the bottom of the refugium
where the light has the hardest time reaching.
Tumbling chaeto also keeps it from trapping debris
and keeps the refugium area cleaner.
It also makes sure that the nutrient rich water
from the display travels through all of the chaeto
instead of just over the top,
or wherever the path of least resistance is.
All of that said, need is a little strong.
You don't need to tumble your chaeto, but it can help.
You wouldn't believe how many people
make the same mistakes when setting up a refugium
and you don't have to make those mistakes.
You can avoid them by clicking right here.
(light music)