Changing my light !

Faisal1976us · 04/21/2008, 09:28 AM

I have reef tank from two years , and i have alot corals like SPS and LPS , now i planning to change my light from 150w to 400w !
do you thing changing my light to higher watt its dangerous for my corals? do you think soft corals like mushrooms will die ?

TheMcs · 04/21/2008, 09:47 AM

You'll definitely have to acclimate the corals to the new light. You can place sheets of screen over the tank, say 5. Every few days remove a sheet.

Your soft corals will not like you for the change. I've move all of them down, and shade some. You'll be able to move them as you gauge their reaction to the light.

downhillbiker · 04/21/2008, 10:43 AM

i agree. you need to acclimate. i had some die off and tissue loss because of light shock on my tank. i have cut back the photoperiod and have been slowly moving it back up 1 hour every 2 weeks, but i think the screen thing would work for you better. I dont think I would take them off so fast. I think i would go with more like a week between each screen, and go with 3-4, in a month you will be golden.

here's what light shock did to my corals:

from this

to this, notice the bleaching, tissue loss, and less polyp extension

from this

to this

widmer · 04/21/2008, 11:15 AM

You sure you don't want to just upgrade to 250 watts? That will pretty much double your light as the HID lamps become more efficient as their wattage increases...

04/21/2008, 09:28 AM	#1
Faisal1976us Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 1,076	Changing my light ! I have reef tank from two years , and i have alot corals like SPS and LPS , now i planning to change my light from 150w to 400w ! do you thing changing my light to higher watt its dangerous for my corals? do you think soft corals like mushrooms will die ?

04/21/2008, 09:47 AM	#2
TheMcs Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Broken Arrow, OK Posts: 2,272	You'll definitely have to acclimate the corals to the new light. You can place sheets of screen over the tank, say 5. Every few days remove a sheet. Your soft corals will not like you for the change. I've move all of them down, and shade some. You'll be able to move them as you gauge their reaction to the light. __________________ Evaporation and top off don't count as water changes... Current Tank Info: 185g Deep Sea display, 2x 40g frag tanks, 90g fuge, 60g sump (400+ gal system)

04/21/2008, 10:43 AM	#3
downhillbiker Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Posts: 2,831	i agree. you need to acclimate. i had some die off and tissue loss because of light shock on my tank. i have cut back the photoperiod and have been slowly moving it back up 1 hour every 2 weeks, but i think the screen thing would work for you better. I dont think I would take them off so fast. I think i would go with more like a week between each screen, and go with 3-4, in a month you will be golden. here's what light shock did to my corals: from this to this, notice the bleaching, tissue loss, and less polyp extension from this to this __________________ The friendliest GIANT you'll ever meet. Current Tank Info: 200g Marineland Deep Dimension (Lumenmax Reflectors/Dual PFO 400w/Radium 20K) and 2xFrag Tanks (One TEK T5 fixture and one MH, Galaxy/Phoenix) on same system w/100g sump w/6"x100g DSB, AquaC EV-1000 Skimmer, Reeflo Barracuda return pump

04/21/2008, 11:15 AM	#4
widmer Drug Enthusiast Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Rochester, MN Posts: 2,958	You sure you don't want to just upgrade to 250 watts? That will pretty much double your light as the HID lamps become more efficient as their wattage increases...