Refugium light cause algae in main tank?

[Indyfishking]

Hello everyone! As you can see I'm New to the website and am in need of some expert help!

I recently purchased a 60 gallon saltwater cube aquarium and bought a new 14" octopus hang on refugium. I've never used a fuge before but my main concern is the light. From my research I've read you want to leave that light on opposite times of the tank to encourage algae in the fuge. Right now I just have miracle mud I placed in it two days ago. All live rock is from previous tank, sand and water (thought itd help with established bacteria). I left the light on last night and it does keep the "main tank" fairly lit. I do not have any night time leds (was told it's not necessary) so its weird you'd expect to tank to be dark at night (I hate the fuge light because it keeps that room pretty bright). I do plan on purchasing some micro algae (didn't know if there's enough bacteria to put it in fuge yet) because it seems like easy maintenance and will help clean the tank plus help even out parameters of the water.

1)Do I have to leave fuge light on at night and do it opposite times of the tank?
2)I'm new to metal halide, how long should I leave it on daily (have several corals listed below with fish). Typically my previous LEDs I'd only do 5-6 hours a day with led moon lighting on 24/7.
3)when do you suggest macro algae.

I have several fish and corals- clown, snowflake eel, coral beauty, (4)green blue chromis, fire shrimp, watchman goby, sand sifting star, red starfish (don't know type), several zoos, hammerhead, green bubble tip anemone, pulsing Xenia and pompoms (on top of tank, will these burn since they're used to LEDs ?) and a few other corals I don't know the Name of.

Any suggestions? The more thorough you can be would help! I want to thank you all in advanced for your help!!! Seriously! My lfs is full of crap and is never honest and things online always contradict everyone else so I never know what actually works. If anything I hate the bright light at night on fuge but don't want one below the tank because that's where I hide all my fish supplies. I have considered in buying a black background and painting the fuge black (because it sticks up higher than tank) but even of I do that the light still sits up over the fuge so....

 

[Ballyhoo]

My fuge light is on with the main tank, its in the bedroom. But my other fuge light, in the living room, is on opposite the display lights. Iirc the purpose of alternate light cycles is to keep the pH constant.

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[Indyfishking]

My fuge light is on with the main tank, its in the bedroom. But my other fuge light, in the living room, is on opposite the display lights. Iirc the purpose of alternate light cycles is to keep the pH constant.

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Unfortunately I don't have the availablity to have 2 aquariums. Any suggestions on what I do?

 

[greech]

As mentioned, the reverse light cycle is solely to maintain a more consistent pH over a 24/hr period. If that isn't an issue (typucally isn't), then just run the fuge light on the same cycle as your display.

Moonlights are not required but I do feel they provide some benefit to the livestock we keep. No scientific basis for that but consistency is a good thing and I do feel my animals are on a shcedule based on the light cycle I run. Besides, most of the cool stuff that happens in our tanks happens when the lights go out .

Is the MH lighting over the fuge or the display (both?). With the exception of the nem, all your corals have lower light requirements. That doesn't mean the MH is too much but depending on your previous lighting specs and how fast you changed the lighting over you may need to acclimate them to the new light. What kind of LEDs were you running and for how long? What kind of MY light do you have and how many watts is it? Also, how far off the water is the MH and is the bulb brand new?

The title of your thread mentions algae in the display tank but not much said on that subject in your post. Anytime you add new rock, sand, etc, you stand the chance of a bloom or even a mini cycle. In this case I am going to point to the miracle mud as the culprit. Have you tested your water recently for nitrates and phosphates?

 

[Indyfishking]

As mentioned, the reverse light cycle is solely to maintain a more consistent pH over a 24/hr period. If that isn't an issue (typucally isn't), then just run the fuge light on the same cycle as your display.

Moonlights are not required but I do feel they provide some benefit to the livestock we keep. No scientific basis for that but consistency is a good thing and I do feel my animals are on a shcedule based on the light cycle I run. Besides, most of the cool stuff that happens in our tanks happens when the lights go out .

Is the MH lighting over the fuge or the display (both?). With the exception of the nem, all your corals have lower light requirements. That doesn't mean the MH is too much but depending on your previous lighting specs and how fast you changed the lighting over you may need to acclimate them to the new light. What kind of LEDs were you running and for how long? What kind of MY light do you have and how many watts is it? Also, how far off the water is the MH and is the bulb brand new?

The title of your thread mentions algae in the display tank but not much said on that subject in your post. Anytime you add new rock, sand, etc, you stand the chance of a bloom or even a mini cycle. In this case I am going to point to the miracle mud as the culprit. Have you tested your water recently for nitrates and phosphates?

I currently have 150 watt single metal halide (apprx 1 year old but previous owner only used a couple of hours daily because tank was in very well lit room) that's apprx 6-8 inches from the water (still keeps water warm apprx 79-80 degrees with no heater). Previous tank was intermediate jbj nano cube led lighting (much as I know). The MH is only above tank whereas octopus fuge came with a generic one above fuge but it's light also shows in main tank quite well.

I was asking on the macro algae when should I add it? all parameters are fine now just was told macro algae will keep it that way so it doesn't spike but my main concern is filtering and I thought it would help filter from what I've read. I'll post a picture online in a few hours to show you.

 

[Indyfishking]

I do not have any algae yet but would only assume more light more algae. Now I have lights on 24 hours a day (6-7 MH and rest of hours small light on fuge). This won't encourage algae growth?

 

[Ballyhoo]

Unfortunately I don't have the availablity to have 2 aquariums. Any suggestions on what I do?

Sorry about that, I was only implying that it doesn't really matter unless you have pH swings at night.

I have 2 150w MH over my tank that are frun from 11a-1p everyday and they are placed 4-5 inches above my tank. Otherwise I run 4 T5HOs from when ever I wake up until about 10p... still working on timers, I don't work I'm a kept woman lol

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[greech]

ok, gotcha (I think ). Tough to say bit going from a lower end LED to a 150W MH is probably gonna require some acclimation especially if you have your corals higher in the tank. Either slowly ramp up the light cycle or put the corals lower in the tank to start and raise them up over the course of a couple of weeks.

Adding the algae now won't be an issue. Macro will consume nutrients and trimming it complete the export process. Chaeto is probably the most popular algae for that purpose. You shouldn't become too overly confident that the macro will "clean" your tank. You would need a much larger refugium for a 90 gallon to really reap the benefits of nutrient control through macro. It should help some along with routine water changes and skimming. I know you didn't suggest that would be the case but some are lead to believe that a refugium will cure their tanks or somehow make them bulletproof when in fact not many refugiums are large enough to make a significant impact.

If you want to keep the fuge light out of the display you will need a backing/paint for the back of the tank or paint/wrap the refugium. If the fuge light doesn't have a reflector maybe that would help keep the light out of the room? Not sure how its setup. HTH

I wanna be a kept man some day !

 

[Indyfishking]

ok, gotcha (I think ). Tough to say bit going from a lower end LED to a 150W MH is probably gonna require some acclimation especially if you have your corals higher in the tank. Either slowly ramp up the light cycle or put the corals lower in the tank to start and raise them up over the course of a couple of weeks.

Adding the algae now won't be an issue. Macro will consume nutrients and trimming it complete the export process. Chaeto is probably the most popular algae for that purpose. You shouldn't become too overly confident that the macro will "clean" your tank. You would need a much larger refugium for a 90 gallon to really reap the benefits of nutrient control through macro. It should help some along with routine water changes and skimming. I know you didn't suggest that would be the case but some are lead to believe that a refugium will cure their tanks or somehow make them bulletproof when in fact not many refugiums are large enough to make a significant impact.

If you want to keep the fuge light out of the display you will need a backing/paint for the back of the tank or paint/wrap the refugium. If the fuge light doesn't have a reflector maybe that would help keep the light out of the room? Not sure how its setup. HTH

I wanna be a kept man some day !

Thanks for the advice on slowly moving the corals up. How long is a sufficient amount of time to leave the MH on? Right now it's setup at 7 hours daily which is raising my water temps to 80 which is pretty high. I have no heater on and house is kept at 73 degrees so I'm shocked the tank isn't cooler. Old nano cube had a top on it with a heater and I could keep it at 78 degrees anytime of the year! I'd like to avoid getting chiller (because of additional costs) and a fuge underneath because of the cost and makes no space for under the tank.

I have a 60 gallon tank with apprx 70-80 Pds of live rock, 3-4 inch reef flake bed (apprx 45-50 Pds) so technically the tank can only probably hold 45-50 gallons of not less. The octopus refugium said it would defiantly help prevent nitrites and phosphates from fluctuating as well as maintance a more even ph. It also said the miracle mud and the micro algae would help filter things because it eats debris. If this is not the case do you have other suggestions? I have a tunze skimmer but I don't like it, it's hard adjusting just right. It either bubbles up too much cAusing too much water in top or too low so the. It collects nothing. The water appears pretty clear if it gets full. Also do you suggest live rock in back with fuge?

I assumed only have 45-50 gallons a small 14x4x8 would be big enough. If not how much bigger should I get? I live the hangons because it leaves me room underneath the tank (have lots of fish stuff).

Any suggestions?

 

[greech]

I take it that is a Tunze 9002? If so, those skimmers work really well UNLESS the water level fluctuates a lot due to evaporation and top-off. They need a pretty constant water level to work well. What you are doing is fine, no reason to change at all. The algae, etc. in the fuge will help some, I just didn't want you to think your tank would be bulletproof as a result of adding a smaller refugium. From your livestock list, you don't have any high demand corals. Regular water changes along with the fuge and any media (carbon, GFO) should keep up with the load. I do recommend adding a good skimmer down the road if you can. Really can't substitue for skimming IMO/IME.

The other thing to remember is that refugiums can also cause problems. I'm not saying this will be the case but if you start to notice a lot of crud building up in the fuge you may want to clean it out every so often. By crud, I don't mean the algae itself. Alage is in the fuge is where you want it but it also traps detritus and too much of that will reduce flow and overcome the algae' ability to consume the nutrients. If you go with chaeto, keep it trimmed so water flows through the fuge fairly well. If it turns into a big mat, you should trim it and let it regrow out (good sign when its growing well). Be careful when cleaning the fuge as well. With the sand and mud in there, you don;t want to stir it up too much (could cause a spike). If you have a lot of detritus settling, gently siphon it off the top of the bed.

Do you have any pics of your setup?