too much light?

CG · 02-14-2004, 02:23 PM

Is their such thing as too much light? I recently added a 400 watt mh to my 29 gallon and the corals seem to not like it as much as the pc. Could they just be getting used to it or is this a problem?

Phil5613 · 02-14-2004, 03:14 PM

400 watts WOW!
Did you filter the light and adjust your lighting schedule? You can really bleach the crap out of your corals with too sudden of a change of your lighting intensity

CG · 02-14-2004, 04:28 PM

filter? i adjusted the lighting schedule a little? so the problem is its too much too quick? or is 400 just too much?

Phil5613 · 02-14-2004, 09:58 PM

I think too much too quick look for a means to filter the light in layers like fiberglass screens for about 5-6 layers removing 1 a week

02-15-2004, 02:44 AM

Is the bulb a 6,500 or 10,000 or a 20,000?

CG · 02-15-2004, 04:50 AM

10,000...where would i get these fiberglass screens? home depot?

CG · 02-15-2004, 07:48 AM

do you think a 250 watt bulb would work on a 400w ballast?

Craig Manoukian · 02-15-2004, 04:12 PM

A 250 watt bulb will not work in a 400 watt ballast. 400 watts is too much intensity in par value for your 29 gallon. You will need to lower your corals and filter the light to keep from bleaching/butrning them in addition to reducing the photo period. You may need to get your corals sun glasses in the mean time.

What kind of corals are you keeping? SPS are more tolerant of intense light than Soft and LPS corals.

CG · 02-15-2004, 04:23 PM

frogspawn, colt, bubble, hydropora(?), and assorted mushrooms. they all seem to be doing really well, the light is about 12 inches off the tank. how do i filter the light?

Matt Rogers · 02-16-2004, 05:35 PM

12 inches will help. If they are doing fine, I would just worry about HEAT.

I've seen 2000 watts on a 40 I think it was, that guy was nuts, growing tons of acros. But it looked like a labratory with chillers and fans and tubes all over.

Not what I would do, but if I were you, it would be heat and aclimating new arrivals by using screens or something to shade them initially. I would probably find that black mesh they sell for greenhouses.