Hehe.
That was way back in March, I believe, over at TheReefTank.com! To reprise my hamhanded summary of photosynthesis back then (with due apologies to Doug1 and Steven of TRT):
In the day both light and H20 are taken in and via photolysis made to yield O2, ATP and TPNH2. Calvin's Dark Reactions take the latter two and, in combo with CO2 nabbed from the atmosphere, churn out packets of starch. (You can look up how PGAL-to-ADP piles onto starch yourselves, heh-heh). It is generally at night that these starch packets are broken down into sugars and disseminated throughout the plant for use in tissue building.
A very simplistic way to reason out why energy stockpiling and tissue construction seem to have been segregated is for efficiency: unable to do anything about the sunrise and sunset, plants have evolved to focus more on starch-making while the sun shines, while at night they can focus more on growing.
Lighting a seaweed patch 24/7 doesn't 'necessarily' stop a plant from growing. But it can be wasteful excess both for the plant and for the person footing the light bill. If the growth rate pleases you, and any leaked sugars/starches don't bother you, hey ---it's your turf. Or macro.
Which brings me to my final burp:
We seem to be discussing an
algal filter.
(If you are utilizing turf algae, then you can call it an
Algal Turf Scrubber --just don't try to sell it as such, or you will step on the patent rights of the wonderful Dr. Walter Adey) It exports dissolved nutrients via harvest of the algae utilized.
A
refugium is a whole other barrel of pigs' knuckles. It serves as a predator-free breeding ground for certain critters that would have trouble flourishing in the display tank. Some of those refugium critters' planktonic offspring can serve as very healthy snacks for our display-tank inhabitants (hence the term).
If you wish to combine refugia and algal filters, call it a combination, but let's try not to confuse some beginners that may be tuning in. The two are distinct as concepts.
[This message has been edited by horge (edited 07-05-2000).]