i just got a refugium

whts the lighting hours for the algea and any other tips on how to keep it growing well and etc...

 

Go with some sand and macro. I have cheato in mine and it does an excellent job. As for the lighting I would go with the same lighting schedule as your DT. Some other people would disagree and say go 24/7 or go opposite your DT to keep the algae from going sexual. Here is the advice I got from a biochemist on the subject.


"Well some people say 24 hours but its not going to grow and absorb all the nutrients with 24 hours of light. They will argue tooth and nail about it based on their algae still growing at a slow rate, but i used to be a biochemist in college... they need to do two types of reactions, called CAM photosynthesis, where the day is needed for half and the night is needed for the other half. If you have pH swings from day to night, you will want to go with night time lighting to make the pH more stable. I just keep mine on with my normal daylight time because my pH is spot on all the time... I also have a "show" fuge that is on display with a bunch of nice looking softies/critters/macros so i have it illuminated in the day."

 

I do opposite cycle of my main lights unless I see an increase in nitrates, etc. then I temporarily increase the duty cycle.

M