Need Help-New Light Acclimation

Hey Everyone,

I had a dual 36" t5 on my 46g bowfront and I now just got a Sundial quad fixture. I have zoas, mushrooms, softies, and two LPS (a duncan and hammer). My question is how do I acclimate my corals to the new light?

The simple answer would be to lower the corals or raise the light and adjust the positioning slightly until they are acclimated... well, I can't do either . All of my corals are attached to large pieces of live rock and I have no way of raising the light.

One idea I thought of was to have the actinics on all day (equivalent of my previous dual bulbs) and then have the others come on for increasing periods. For example, today (day1) I would have all 4 bulbs on for only 1 hour in the middle of the day. Day 2 would be 1 1/2 hours. Day 3 would be 2 hours and so on...

Will this work? Is it too aggressive of a schedule?

 

Bump- Anyone?

 

I would give more than one day between increases- at least 3 or 4. Just keep a close eye on the corals. IMOPE, softies will show irritation from excess light long before it actually does any harm. If they start closing and shrinking before the end of the daily photoperiod, back it off 1 hour until they remain open all day for a few days, then start increasing 1/2 hour per week.

 

Thanks Mr. Bill- Glad that someone decided to weigh in!

 

What bulbs were you using and what bulbs are you adding?

 

Hurray- another!

Well I had a Coralife 10,000K and a 460nm actinic.

Right now the bulbs that came with the lamp (used) are 1 ATI Aquablue Special, 1 ATI Blue+, 1 10,000K, and 1 Super Actinic.

BUT... tomorrow my new bulbs are supposed to arrive- 2 Blue+, 1 Aquablue Special, and a KZ Fiji Purple (now to see if it lives up to the hype)

 

Yeah. That's going to be a significant increase in par. Take it slow like mr. bill suggested.

 

Also be aware that you don't actually have any "actinic" bulbs. The blue plus is still a full spectrum bulb.. I would just start with a greatly reduced photo period like 3-4 hours and move up one half hour every week till it gets to your goal photo period.

Also for future reference. there is no visual difference between ati purple plus and kj figi purple and the ati costs less.

 

Grim- I appreciate your previous advice, but I have to disagree with your thoughts about the bulbs. I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but ATI's website states:

"(Blue+) Combines the properties of a blue bulb (approximately 460nm) with an actinic bulb (approximately 420nm), producing an intense blue light with high PAR numbers and a light spectrum that encourages both bluing in SPS corals and fluorescence in capable corals. Also helps balance a washed out/ yellow-hued tank. Recommended as a supplement to metal halides or in combination with Aquablue Special, Purple Plus, or other full spectrum T5 bulbs."

Also, there is a pretty clear difference in the output from the Purple Plus and Fiji Purple

KZ Fiji Purple vs. ATI Purple Plus | Reef Gizmo

 

ATI blue plus


Looks like I was looking at the wrong spectrograph on the blue+ bulbs (I was looking at aquablue special). I apologize. But you should be aware that the par is still very significant. According to this the blue+ bulbs are about 20% higher than the par on the giesemann bulbs actinic. And both are considered much stronger than average bulbs. Edit: I found where I made my mistake, the Blue+ bulbs do still have comparable PAR to daylight bulbs despite lacking the full spectrum.

I was strictly referring to the visual look of KZ v ATI. I have had both and turned them off and on separately and couldn't see the difference. I would NEVER have expected that big of a difference. Holy cow! Looks like I too may have to retry the KZ figi purple bulb!