Reef nutrition

Lightning Change Acclimation - How Long?

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dangalang

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I was just wondering what everyone's timing is when acclimating corals to new light, more specifically when adding lights/increasing PAR. I'm sure it depends on how big the lighting change is, but what's a general guideline, a couple weeks?
 
I’ve never acclimated anything - only thing I’ve ever bleached are chalices, but that was probably too high light in general (rather than lack of acclimation).

Every acro I’ve ever had I’ve just put wherever. Have had frags wither away and fail to thrive of course but doubt it was lighting.
 
Interesting, I'm sure your abundance of available nutrients helps being in high PAR :p

That's something I have to think about, do I have enough nutrients and flow for more light?
 
Also - I’m only doing this in the 250-450 PAR range, I haven’t stuck any new frags in higher PAR than that - that real estate has not been available for some time.
 
I've had to from other tanks with acropora and some LPS species. The number that I've bleached even at lower measured PAR is pretty high. My guess is it's from the heavy amount of violet and UVA from our lights vs. others.
 
I stick my newly acquired ones on a rack toward the sandbed where they get around 200-250 umol for around an week then slowly raise it up 4_8 inches throughout the course of another week.

After a couple weeks they go on the rockwork. Since I glue the plugs directly to it, I prefer that they acclimate beforehand.

Where the frags came from and the light they sat in before they got in my tank matter alot as well. Ive had a couple from TSA begin to bleach when I was too impatient, but quickly learned they thrive in areas around 300-350 Before i move them any higher. Most that I've acquired from Vivid seem to take anything I throw at them.

I don't use any acclimation settings on the light, just manually move the frag till it looks happy.

Montis have been a challenge for me. They only look good in the darkest areas of my tank. Acclimation to bring them out to a visible area has taken me 3 weeks, and even then, they stay on/near the sand bed.
 
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