New Lighting Finally!!!

nyckeeandnate6

nyckeeandnate6

New member
We are upgrading!!! From Coralife 30 Inch Aqualight With 2-65W 50/50 Lamps Straight Pin Base (with fans) to 30 INCH 4X24 WATT AQUATICLIFE T5 HO LIGHT FIXTURE W/ 2 LUNAR LEDS. We are probably going to fry everything in our tank. Any opinions out there? Any helpful hints?
 
Shorten your light cycle for starters. You can also get some sheets of window screens and lay 4 of them on top of the tank to block some of the light. Taking a screen off every week will gradually acclimate the tank to the light.
 
nyckeeandnate6 said:
I have never changed lighting so I have no clue how to do that.
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When I went from PC's to T5's i cut my light cycle in half. So if you normally run your PC's for 8 hours, you'd only run your T5's for 4 hours in the beginning, and so on. You can add an hour every week until you get back up to 8 hours (as an example).

Some folks will keep their lights on for 8 hours (as an example) but they will go the hardware store and buy some of the window screen (that keeps the bugs out when you open your windows at home). They'l cut it so that it hangs over the tank enough so the weight doesn't droop the screen into your water. This way they can still run their lights for the full 8 hours, but the screen will "screen" the light. tyou can take one screen off a week until they are all gone and your'e at full light.

Personally, if ou don't mind having your tank off for half the day, it's easier to just cut your time in half and gradually build up.

Most important is to keep an eye on your corals and make sure they are not getting distressed.
 
What bulbs are you going to run? If you are just doing 10k and actinics, I have a pair of each that I just upgraded to ATI bulbs. You are welcome to use my old bulbs for a week or so before putting your brand new ones in.

Edit: just noticed where you live, I doubt you want to drive that far just for some old bulbs.
 
FishBeard- Thanks for the offer, but yea that's a bit of a drive. We will figure it out. I think we are going to try the screens, but haven't decided yet.
 
Got my new fixture in the mail today, and all i can say is wow, now after an hour of assembling and programming the timer, and taking pictures i get to wait a few weeks to acclimate the corals to new light
 
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