little help-best way to acclimate new lights

[williah]

I have a 72 gallon tank, 24" tall.

I just purchased the Nova Extreme Pro. Six T5's of power, 324 watts.

I had power compaqs, 230 watts total.

I'm wondering if I have to acclimate the tank to the new lighting, and if so, best way how. Please be as specific as you can. It's my first time changing out lights and I don't want to miss anything and end up learning the hard way.

Thanks.

 

[REEFLECTIONS]

phyl once gave me a great tip of placing layers of window screens over the tank, and removing a layer every few days. hope it helps. but to be honest 96 watts is not that much brighter, so it may not be neccessary, or one layer of screen should be sufficient

 

[Whitebird1]

When I recently upgraded to T-5 from PCs with a softy's dominated tank, EVERYTHING freaked out, very unhappy, closed up and stayed that way. I have also seen where specimens from my PC tank were transferred to T-5 and metal halides and just melted.
Recommendations-
Check your water parameters so that anything that may be off will not contribute to any shock.
Run the lights for a shorter time, slowly increasing the photo period each day for a week or two.
Screens a good idea, I placed a couple layers of paper towels on top of the tanks glass cover and took off layers during the day to slowly increase the intensity of the light.
You should be able to tell if these precautions are necessary withen the first few days of running the new lights, just watch your tank closely.
GregH

 

[mnat]

When we made the jump from PC to T5s on the 20 we just took our time. Reduce the time period your light are on drastically and build from there. Also, if you can turn on different bulbs on your set, start with the blue ones and work your way up.

 

[williah]

Thanks. Lot of good ideas.

The game is: I'm going to start with straight swap, and watch their reaction. If I see neg reactions I'm going with turning off some of the lights if I can, else layers of something slowly removed (don't have screens so I'll either buy em or find something comparative).

We shall see and update.

 

[REEFLECTIONS]

i think going from pc's to t5's is more drastic than just upping t5's by 90 watts. please keep us informed

 

[justchad]

I believe you should use the alum. screen, not the fiberglass

 

[williah]

So, I got it, the Nova Ex Pro. This thing is crazy! 8)

Anyway, it arrived with one broken light (I don't understand the apparently insufficient packaging they use to hold the lights in place), but the unit is mostly fine (the broken light banged up the reflector a little). I ended up with 3 actinic and 2 10k, with the replacement 10k on the way. (enough complaining)

ANYWAY, here's the point:

I ran flux readings in the tank with the old lights and the new one. (I know the difference tween PAR and lux). With 3 lights on the top is 50% stronger (approx 7500 new to 4500 lux old). The bottom is actually less than with the PCs (approx 1700 new to 1900 old). With 5 tubes on, the difference was major (I'll post numbers if asked). I can't wait to see it with six.

So here's how I am going to cycle in the new lights: one tube at a time. Assuming everything reacts well, I'm starting with 3 tubes and am going to power-up a new tube every 3 days. By the time I need the 6th, the replacement should be here and I'll be ready for full power.

2 side notes:

First - REFLECTIONS, the lux numbers above definately go to your comment about the difference tween PC and T5 lights. The values I listed were for only 3 lights, which total 162 watts, compared to the 230 watts my PC were running at, yet the T5 lux values are greater or almost equal.

Second, I have two Ricordia in the top third of the tank. When I first ran all 5 to take lux readings, one of them didn't like it at all. He shriffled up quickly (and probably would have cried if he could). They will be watched, with a quick trip to a lower level of tank if necessary.

I'll update further as time goes on.

 

[blange3]

Sounds like you are on the right path.

With individual reflectors T5's provide much more light than PC's.

I gather the fixture has individual switches, that makes it easy to phase in. Are the 3 starter tubes 2 actinics and one 10K?

Good luck!

 

[williah]

Hi Blange3. Yes, my starter lights were 2 actinic and 1 10k. Now I'm at 4, 2 actinic and 2 10k. Very easy. The T5's need to rotated into place in the connector. I just left the unused lights "unrotated" and I'm locking them in place as needed.

Tank seems to be doing well. The Coral are definately happier. I have a bubble and a frogspawn which are looking bigger (more swollen) than they have in a long time. I also had a ricordia 1/2 down which was stretching straight up to get more light from the PCs. Now he's flat and wide, basking in the new sun.

I'm going to bump up to 5 tubes this week (3 act, 2 10k), and next week I'm going to start up all six. I figure that should be slow enough. Everything looks happy so far so I'm in no rush.

 

[Deleted member 10862]

when i went from 14k to 10k my fish freaked out!! so i put back the 14k and everything was fine..so not just corals..but also monitor your fish closely

 

[williah]

Thanks, lots of helpful advice.

Here's my update. I'm into the second week and the transition seems to be going well.

I've check the coral, and the fish, and everyone seems happier for the greater lighting. My corals are fuller than I've seen them before.

I have 5 of the 6 T5's on at the moment. I've kept the balance Actinic-heavy cause they all seem to like the blue light better than the 10k. Also I went on vaca for a weekend which helped slow me down on the transition pacing. I'll have the sixth one, 10k, on this weekend. At which point I'll be running an awesome/beautiful 324 watts of T5 power!

My LPS seem happier and bubblier, which is a cool thing considering I've been losing them for months.

I'll be taking LUX readings this week, for my journal. If anyone wants to share readings, let me know. Once I have all the lights up (and I get my Nitrate under control-plans are already in effect), I will start adding some LPS coral frags to see how they do.

My 2 year plan on having the best tank ever( ;D )is moving along.