Going from PC's to Halide??...

mudskippers

mudskippers

AC Members
Jun 1, 2007
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Tempe, AZ
Hey guys, I was just wondering what would be the safest way to switch from PC's to Halide? I hear that we should acclimate the lighting so the corals get used to things, but how exactly do you acclimate lighting?????

If anyone would be willing to give me their 2 cents on this that would be great....

Thanks,
Jessica
 
Grins.. Salty.. you two went through that? I believe Grins used parchment paper, around 10 layers thick, and put the light above that. She then removed a sheet every day or so to make the light a little brighter. I am sure Grins or Salty420 could explain it a lot better since they did it. I just read about them doing it. :)
 
ahh, that sounds like a plan... Hope Grins makes her way over to this thread sometime in the near future... thanks Ace ;]
 
if its possible to suspend the lights over ur tank like a pendant type deal u can simply raise the lights up high and every day or 2 lower the lights a few inches. other than that the parchment paper works or mesh screen (like window screening) using the same idea works well.
 
When I upgraded to 250w MH pendants, I started with them ~18" above the tank, and then covered the tank with a plastic mesh (you could use eggcrate material). After two weeks I removed the mesh. Another two weeks and I lowered the lights 2". And then so on. Just make sure you go slow as to avoid bleaching!
 
When I upgraded to halides, I suspended them at 12 inches above the water and lowered them half an inch each week. I also only had the halides on for 5 hours a day whereas as I had the old ones on for 8.

I've the same when I upgraded the halides from 150w to 250w but lowered them an inch each week.

HTH
 
When I went from PCs to T5 HO, I started out only running the daylight grouping of bulbs for just 4 hours a day. Every two weeks, I increased the photoperiod by 1 hour until back up to the full photoperiod. I didn't have any problems with any of our corals, and I didn't need to move corals or use anything to shield the tank.
 
I went from 220w of PC to 175w of Halides with a tank full of coral. I built the hood and stuck it on the tank, with no ill effect. I guess it would really depend on how much light you had before and how much you're moving to.
 
alright, thanks everyone for your 2 cents... appreciated...

We got the light up last night, and were going to do a combo of the window screen and the height away from the surface.

Thanks everyone for your input... Hopefully all goes well.... we will probably be getting rid of /or transferring most of our corals seeming how they are mostly softys..... we'll see how things go..... just too bad we cant use our canopy anymore... :[
 
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