refugiums & little baby green starfish type things

[Calabashman]

For a little history, I have a 24 gallon aguapod reef/fish tank up and running sucessfully. I'm in the beginning process of getting a 90 gallon tank up and running. I've just begiun the tannk cycling process. To that end my 90 gallon tank has a refugium and protien skimmer.

My first question is how long should I have the 2 75 watt lights on over my refugium?

My second question has to do identiftying little (2" tip to tip) dark green star fish type animals I've found in holes in base rock that I'm transfering from my 24 gallon tank and checking for Bristle worms before they go into the tank. Could they be a type of worm or are they actually little starfish. Sorry I don't have a photo. As I found them (5) I put them back into my small tank with the thought that I'll be shutting it down soon and will see them again.

Thanks in advance for your time and help. Calabashman

[julianp]

I've been experimenting with different light cycles for my refugium. I've heard quite a few reports saying that macro algae like chaeto does a little better with a dark cycle, but I've personally found that running the light as close to 24x7 as you can has a very nice benefit of controlling algae growth in the display tank. The basic idea is that you want to make the refugium an ideal place for algae of any kind to take hold so that it grows quickly and sucks up any nutrients that might otherwise feed nuisance algae in the display.

This worked so well for me that during a recent diatom bloom (added new sand), My display was only lightly dusted with brown specks on some parts of the sand while the refugium walls and rock was completely covered in a thick, slimy layer of the stuff.

[Calabashman]

Thanks for your reply. That's how I've had my refugium running for 2 days. I live rock rubble in the bottom and then I have live sand & 2 types of green plants in it. I'm also thinking of putting some small bits of live rock in the sump area next to my protein skimmer.