Kessil

Turning on the MH's - what to expect/prepare?

Gonzo

Gonzo

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Hey all, so I'm switching out from my t5 setup to an Elos II planet 2 x 250 Metal Halide setup. Yay!

My questions are, should I prepare my tank for these new lights via moving corals down lower for the time being? Of course I'm always open to anyone with previous experience in this situation and can offer some advice on "what not to do." :)

Oh, and I plan on running the MH's for 5 hours, so should I ramp up the lighting starting at 1 hour for the first day, then 2 the next, etc?

Enjoy your saturday!

-RS
 
If you are upgrading your lights to a new more powerful setup (I'm not familiar with t5's very much so it's hard for me to tell) I would recommend some way of adjusting the intensity of the lights as being the least stressful to your tank inhabitants. Decreasing the lights on time helps, but if making a huge jump it's possible to burn corals in just a few hours. I am of the opinion it is more useful to raise the lights up higher, if possible, and slowly lower them down over a few weeks time.

If it's not possible to raise the lights, some kind of screen setup using a couple layers of plastic window screen from Home Depot in a DIY wood frame can do the trick.

I personally don't think that moving your corals around inside the tank is the best way to go. If you can leave the corals in place and find some way to adjust the intensity of the light it should be a lot less stressful for them.
 
if you are afraid that you may bleach you can try a few layers of screen and slowely remove them over a few weeks and that will allow you to slowly ramp up MH
 
Screen attenuates well because it tends to cut intensity pretty evenly across distribution. For me one layer of fat screen can attenuate by 40%! Other line densities vary (keep reading.)

Changing height can have very strange effects. The focus of your reflector is very important in that regard. For example I can vary my spiderlights just a few inches and PAR can change under the bulb by as much as 400% (again keep reading!)

Regardless of which you use IMO get screen with high transmission so you get better resolution when you remove it. In my example above, you don't even need to do the math to calculate that cascading 60% transmission screens gives you big intensity steps. And then you may bleach.

You kind of need to know where you are starting from to know how to set up your screens. Got a meter? If anything I suppose err on the side of caution - I have a few bleached ones in my setup ;)
 
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