HOB refugium

[Blakers]

M thinking about making my filter a HOB refugium but I'm not sure what To do about the lighting
Am I supposed to leave the light above it on all day and night? And what should I put in it?

 

[fort384]

You can light a refugium in a couple of different ways - either 24 hrs/day or opposite the photoperiod of your DT.

Chaeto seems like a good choice, though I don't have a ton of experience with it. It is growing in my fuge area of my sump. What kind of filter are you looking at converting though? Will the volume be large enough to make it worthwhile on your system?

 

[Blakers]

You can light a refugium in a couple of different ways - either 24 hrs/day or opposite the photoperiod of your DT.

Chaeto seems like a good choice, though I don't have a ton of experience with it. It is growing in my fuge area of my sump. What kind of filter are you looking at converting though? Will the volume be large enough to make it worthwhile on your system?

Thanks, I'll look into the chaeto
It's an aquatic pse-1
It has h protein skimmer/uv sterilizer/ then a place for any type of filter media. It has two spots where I can put stuff after I remove the uv sterilizer and filter I have now, it's about a foot long about 7" deep and about 3" wide

 

[don_chuwish]

Sounds pretty good - This one? So you'd take the UV unit out to create refugium space, then go topless so you can light it? For the price that's not bad, getting a protein skimmer & all. A light in the 6500K range is what I've seen advised for chaeto growth.

- D

 

[Austin.b]

I've seen a video on YouTube of this, they used an aquaclear 110 because it so spacious

 

[MacDracor]

Chaeto would be your best bet. Rather than pay 15-20 bucks for a ball way too big for you to use, try to find a local hobbyist who will give you a small amount. There are small clip on lights that would work ok. While some people recommend 24/7 lighting, there is some evidence that this isn't very good for the plants and algae in the long run. The bonus of opposite photoperiod is evening out Ph swings. Though with such a small fuge, it may not make a huge difference.
Just because the Ph swing argument confused me for a while, I'll explain it. When plants and algae are actively photosynthesizing (lights on), they are converting CO2 to O2. CO2, in high levels, can bind to H2O and lower Ph. By having photosynthesis occurring somewhere at all times (12 in the DT, 12 in the fuge), CO2 doesn't have any period of time in which to build up excessively.
Again, an HOB fuge isn't going to affect that much, but just throwing the info out there.

 

[fort384]

You could post a wanted ad in the classifieds - a member here may need to trim their chaeto and might ship you some for just the cost of shipping... that's how I got mine.