HELP with acclimating corals to new LIGHTING

I would keep the lights on for the same amount of time, and just move them little by little over the course of a week or two depending on how patient/worried you are.

 

Another friend said to start out at about 5 hours a day.. I run them for almost 10 and a half now... I hope all works out. I don't want to mess up a good thing I have going now... Everyone's help is greatly appreciated..

 

I've always just shortened the photo period. Only ecause it's a pain to rig something up to raise and lower the lights.
I would think your friends Idea was a good one. 5 hours for a week then maybe 6 of a couple of days and then spend 2 weeks getting it back up to 10 hours.

J

 

I will do that, shorten the cycle... and start it out farther away and shorten the distance mostly to see how close I can get it without boiling my tank... Its a viper and it has a adjustable arm so shortening the distance isn't really a hassle..

 

I just hope I notice a big difference.. I have never had MH before... My goal is to set up my 12 gallon nano cube again and use the viper MH on it for sps's and keep my 5.5 gal for lps's with the pc's... My light will be here tuesday.. Can't waite to get some pics up...

 

One tried and true is to start the new Halide at it's highest pos. and have it come on for 3 hours in the middle of the normal cycle of the existing lights. Each week add 1 hour. Week 1 add to the earlier and week 2 add after. Sounds confusing, example; your lights now are on from 9:00am to 7:00pm (hypothetical) Have the Halide come on at 12:00noon to 3:00pm. for week 1. Week 2 add an hour in front so now the Halide comes on at 11:00am to 3:00pm. Week 3 add an hour after so now the Halide is on from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Now continue this until you reach 8 hours of Halide and you can gradually diminish the other existing lights at your discretion. You may chose to keep some blues in there.

 

I'll give it a try. Thanks for everyones help..

 

If you say so, I know I went from 265W PC to 750W MH without any modification to the photo period (which itself is a stress on corals). I also went from 36W PC on a 15G nano to 250W MH the same way. I always mount my pendants either by chain or on an xlong machine bolt so i can raise and lower them painlessly. The biggest problem i have ever had with this method is a slight bit of bleaching on the surface of a monti cap inches from the surface. A couple weeks later and it was colored up and growing again. Of course you have to use judgement as to whether you have particularly light sensative/rare corals and their distance from the surface.

Of course, like most of the procedures in this hobby, it's a case of better safe than sorry. Personally I have had several chances to push tons of corals to their limits during coral/SW trade shows and I assure you they are not as fragile as people tend to believe.