Acclimating in new lights

poohmarie

New Member
I am changing over from 1 48" flor and 1 48" actinic to a fixture of 4 10,000k T5HO and 4 T5HO Actinics any ideas on a schedule to start acclimating corals to the new lights without killing them? :maitre

Here is a link to the new light fixture:
http://www.current-usa.com/novaextreme.html

I'm so excited about these lights, I hope they turn out great! This is my Christmas present for the next 10 years ;)
 

johnanddawn

New Member
wow that will be a huge change - be very cautious you are going from 80W to 432W more then a 5x increase
three common practices for such a change:
1) reduce the photoperiod to just a couple hours and slowly lengthen it over a month or two
2) raise the light set way up off the tank (say 12-18") and slowly drop it an 1" or so a week till it is at the right height
3) use a shading material like screening in several layers and then each week for a month or so remove one layer

my prefered method is a combo of one and two - i raise the light up really high and reduce the photo period and alternate betwwen lengthing the photo period and lowering the light till i get it where i want it. watch your corals closely and take your time - light acclimation is one of the most importent yet least followed procedures out there - a quick lighting change will kill your corals
oh yea BTW if you have any corals way up high that you can drop down to the sand bed you might want to do that as well
 

poohmarie

New Member
Thank you! That is exactley the info I was looking for. I knew it would be a BIG change, I just wanted to make sure because its always better safe than sorry.
 

KidNano

New Member
Wait so are you using two of the 48" fixtures?

Jesse
If you scroll to the bottom of the link that she posted you can see that it's 8 lamps in one fixture. When was the last time you went to Coral Oasis Jesse? you need to get over there when you get the chance. Their new tanks are beautiful and they all have these fixtures on them. you'll love them. The color from the lights is amazing and the tanks, well you just gotta see them.
 

poohmarie

New Member
They are going on a standard 75 gallon tank. I'm hoping they are not going to be to bad on my electric bill. :roll:

I'm really glad to hear someone saying that they are good lights. I was really crossing my fingers because I have not seen one before. I don't really have a LFS, so I pretty well do everything online with lots of research.

Thanks,
Pooh
 

poohmarie

New Member
OK! :wlift

I just talked to this "pro" dude and he said that these lights will only support shrooms and simple stuff like that. That T5's are not much better than compact lights. Of corse with everything that I have read there are contradictions. Please give me your thoughts. I'm going to be very upset if these are not that good. I am wanting to get a clam in the future.
 

reefman23

New Member
That is bogus. Now I will say this... those fixtures lack individual reflectors so you automatically lose output there. The big advantage of T5s over PCs is that they can be very efficiently reflected down into the aquarium because of their thin diameter and straight shape. PCs lose alot of output to inefficient reflection. Also, the lamps that come in that unit arent "the best". There are lamps made by ATI, UVL, Geisemann, etc thhat have better output.

However, there are EIGHT lamps on that unit. That is still a lot of light. What size/ depth tank are these going on?

Jesse
 

johnanddawn

New Member
jesse summed it up - the advantage of T5's lies in the reflectors/bulbs/ballast/fans-cooling and that unit is a "bottom line" unit as far as T5's go (not that it is a bad unit -it is really nice, and would certainly consider it myself if i were setting up a 75, it will work well for you - but to keep the price down they don't go full out on all the top of the line components) - however your "pro" hasn't been watching the threads on T5's on RC and is just plain wrong!

if everything else ie FLOW, WATER QUALITY/STABILITY/CLARITY, PROPER PLACEMENT, HEALTHY SPECIMENS, ACCLIMATION TIME TO THE LIGHTS, LACK OF PREDATORS/DISEASE and everything else that matters much more then your choice of lights is good to go - then that light set will support almost any commonly kept coral including SPS and clams in a standard 75g tank all the way to the bottom, and BTW it will make a beauty of a set up asthetically with the independent controling of the actinic bulbs.

your biggest problem is going to be acclimating your exsisting corals and any future corals to that light and proper placement of some of your low light corals down low or in the sand - your shrooms will need shading protection at first from that light. remember what i said in the first post i made and add to that any new specimens will need to sit in the sandbed for a couple weeks and slowly raised to their final resting place. you can always buy better bulbs in the future too
 

poohmarie

New Member
It is a 75 gallon tank. 48" across, 21" tall and 18" deep
Here is a quick picture I took with my phone, please pardon the quality and reflections.





 

poohmarie

New Member
The "pro" guy is really into MH. I'm guessing it is alot of personal preference also? Is there anything that you can think of, that you think the lights will not support? Anemoes too?
You guys are so great, thanks!
 
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