I really believe that caulerpa growth would not be as strong in this system if it weren't for the rear-angle lighting. The fact that the Azoo palm light is on the vertical plane means light hits the top and the bottom areas of the refugium equally, and it only has to go one inch deep, so even the rear macro is well-lit 24x7.
I feel one reason the miniature sand bed is still so clean after 5 months is no bulk waste products accumulate due to the circulation and the degredation by the pods.
My non-concise version of Refugium Workings:
As arthropods/crabs/shrimp reduce higher wastes (which still have protein value to a creature the size of a pin-head) into particles sized for protozoans and bacteria, each animal group in the chain extracts the various energy compounds it needs for survival. Animals higher on the chain require more varied foodstuffs to meet metabolic demands, and by the time you are at the bacterial level, select compounds are all that is needed to sustain life. The wastes liberated by metabolizing these compounds are just basic elements to a large extent; Carbon, Nitrogen, Iron, Phosphorus and Oxygen for example-- nutrients the caulerpas are in short supply of! (not so much oxygen as this refugium is lit constantly) The key is to not exceed the uptake rate for any given nutrient.
A working refugium, both on the macro and micro-level, is a natural engine that runs a reef better than any man-made approach provided your intial bioload (fish and required fish food) is in proportion to the uptake rate of the refugium system.
Brandon M.
I laid some of the macro out on top of the tank to show how much fits into the small space, this is removing about half of it. In all honesty Id say two pounds of plant material have been produced in the last 5 months.
