New Lumen Bright Reflector. ... any info on them

[nickts40]

Mine are 18" off the water and all corals are at least a foot from the water surface and still have 25% bleaching in the corals over the last 3 weeks. Some have bleached and are on the sand bed. I guess that is to be expected after spending 2 years under 250 14K Hamiltons. I figure a few more weeks of acclimation with the new lights and then start moving them closer to the surface.

[melev]

Sorry to hear that Nick. Did you run the lights 2 hours a day for a week, adding a half hour for the next week, and then again another half hour? Or did you run them the full photo period? Tell us more so that others can benefit from your experience and know what to do to avoid such a mistake.

About a year ago, a guy in our club removed all of his MH for three large reflectors and three bulbs. He figured there was no way three bulbs could equal the eight he removed, and he also bleached his reef. Those types of stories made me very very cautious with my own tank. When I fired up these reflectors, it was two hours per bulb, staggered so I could see in my tank for roughly six hours each day. It was annoying, but I didn't have any problems with my corals.

Here's a full tank shot of my reef as of last night.

[JRaquatics]

Sorry to hear about your corals bleaching. You definitely have to be extra careful since you upgraded to a monster skimmer too. Cleaner the water = Even better penetration. I always try to stress the power of these reflectors and how well the penetrate the waters surface. Cation should be used when upgrading to LBs and when acquiring new corals. Acclimation is a step that cannot be skipped.

[nickts40]

I started the photo period at 2.5 hours staggerred with the outer 2 coming on first and 1/2 hour later the center light would come on, so the tank had a total of 3 hours 'viewing' time. Since the corals (40 frags/colomies) were being moved from my 90, all of them were placed on the sand bed for the first week. I have increased the photo period 1/2 per week and am up to 4 hours currently. Due to my undersized chiller, I will probably max out at 5 hours untill we get into the cooler weather. I would say 40% of the corals are still on the sand bed. My problem seems to be with the green acros mostly. I had one big colony which got split into two pieces when I removed it from the LR in the 90G tank. They are located about a foot apart in the new tank and one is six inches higher than the other and both are placed below the half way point in the tank. The higher one got bleached even though there is still full polyp extension while the other one is turning a 'nicer' green. While the green slimer stag and the Upscales Ice blue stag, which are placed higher in the tank, are starting to take on some bright, rich color compared to the pastel look they had before. Time will tell, but I am acclimating them very slowly, and I figure it will be at least two months before all of the frags have been placed higher in the tank.

[melev]

If that is the case, then it may be a combination of things. It isn't like you just swapped out the lights over your existing tank. You have to consider change of:

home
flow
water quality
lighting
heat
handling

[JRaquatics]

Thanks for sharing Nick. Others will be more cautious when upgrading their lights with LBs. They'll come around, you seem to have a grasp on things.

[cmm1970]

I think of all the talk in this behemoth string, this information on really how long it takes to acclimate specimens from 250W and no LB reflector to the 400W with LB's is very good.

Everyone needs to be very, very mindful of this challenge to their specimens when they pull the trigger on more light and better reflectors.

Thanks for sharing the acclimation stories.

Miike

[nickts40]

Question out of curiosity. What would one consider bleaching? The 4 corals in question are about 4x4 square inches. All surface areas that have direct light exposure have lost their color and are white. The underside of the branches still maintain their original colors. Is this bleaching or the 'cells' responsible for pigmentation adjusting to the new spectrum and intensity.

[JRaquatics]

When I get frags from fellow reefers that have run 400 watters I start acclimating within the shade on my sand bed. I have lost a few frags for thinking well he was running 10k 400 watters in lumenarcs I should be fine placing them anywhere in my tank with 250s over them. Wrong move, they just melted. Lesson learned.

BTW your tanks looking great Marc.

[melev]

Originally posted by nickts40
Question out of curiosity. What would one consider bleaching? The 4 corals in question are about 4x4 square inches. All surface areas that have direct light exposure have lost their color and are white. The underside of the branches still maintain their original colors. Is this bleaching or the 'cells' responsible for pigmentation adjusting to the new spectrum and intensity.

Pictures would really help. And if you owned a PAR meter, this would be a much better discussion, because we'd have some facts to consider.

Perhaps the corals were bleached by light only. However, for merely 2 to 3 hours a day? Seems hard to believe, but obviously we can't rule it out either.

---

Thanks JR. I'm very glad that I didn't just assume lighting intensity when I upgraded. I would have been very upset to experience losses when my goal was to make the tank better. I guess my methods of always going slow have worked well for my reef.

[nickts40]

So which PAR meter is worth getting? I have just about everything else in duplicate and triplicate so might as well add another toy.

[melev]

I've used one by Apogee, model QMSS-S, but I think people want QMSS-E instead.

[skippyreef]

I have two SE lumenbrights and one Mini (DE)

I have a 14K phonis for the Mini (250) and I am running XM 20K 400's in the other two. These are due for replacement and was looking for opinions on new ones that will complement the DE pendent 14K.

[volivier]

I just unboxed my 2 250 watt reeflux 12K, coralvue dimmable ballast, mini lumenbrights.

My tank is 6' l x 18"w x 22" tall barebottom, glass 135 gal. oceanic reef ready tank. Center glass brace. I bought two now, going to try for a canyon look under the brace for fish to swim. I may buy another later on if needed. I keep a few sps frags and zoa's at this time.

I screwed two boards in the front and back to lay a board the width of the tank with the reflector screwed to it. That way I can move it side to side as needed. BUT, I thought I measured it higher. From the bottom of where the bulb screws in (bulbs not in yet) to the top of the water is 12.5".

Since my ballasts are dimmable i'm asking if I can leave them at this height and dimm them. Or, after my acclimation weeks do I want them to be higher off the water.?

Thanks, Valerie

[melev]

You want them higher because down low creates two hot spots and quite a bit of shadowing.

FYI, I just heard that you can NOT dim the ballasts until they have been on for 10 minutes. I'd assume you can set the knob before they come on, but don't touch the knob until the bulb has been on for 10 minutes.

[elvn]

My tank is in a basement with a finished ceiling, and the tank stand is tall, so raising the lumen bright assembly any higher is not going to be an option for me. As it is the bulbs will probably be around 15" above the water line with my canopy mounted to the ceiling (planning to put it on rails/drawer-sliding type).

I'm wondering whether anyone had considered screening on top of their tank to help reduce the brightness during the acclimation period and perhaps the burn-in of new bulbs.

Having used reefoptix pendants for serveral years I've also wondered on occasion if it would be possible (and affordable?) to have tinted glass covers made in order to be substituted for pendant's stock glass covers to in effect dim them during acclimation periods / bulb burn in periods. SE bulb pendants especially since they don't need any special glass vs. UV.

I also would like to ask people if they are running weaker lights surrounding their MH photoperiod since they can only run their MH's for four to six hours a day with the lumen brights. I was assuming everyone did. I mean who wants their tank dark other than the1, 2, 4 hrs a day acclimation.. and 4 - 6 hr 'max' post acclimation ? 6 hrs isnt bad if you can get your tank adjusted to that, but I thought I'd ask in general about extended photoperiods. In my case I would like to run two or four 48" 14k vho's before/after my MH.

[volivier]

I'm a total novice, but i read the thread...

You run the lights 2 hours a day to acclimate your coral to brighter more focused light. Working your way up to 6-8 hours a day.

[volivier]

I'll add two inches to my original 12.5 bulb to water by making a new board and laying it on top of my canopy that I built.

I'd like to add i'm not much of a builder. Please be patient.

[volivier]

Okay, just read my notes from Mike at reefspecialty. He told me 15" above water for starting 3 hours per day. 8-9' of cable

[elvn]

I suppose tinted glass pendant shields wouldn't be that useful unless you had two or three different sets with different amount of tint, which doesn't seem cost effective. Or if you had some futuristic glass that tinted more electronically, which doesn't sound very cost effective either . Screening over the tank could work but varying the light penetration could be difficult.

The other thing that comes to mind that people have used forever to 'dim' their windows by different amounts is blinds. Maybe a set of DIY pendant blinds would work - the kind with blades you can rotate, sometimes called 'shutters', like those used on a navy signal lamp for example.

Its just a thought. Otherwise I could stick to the short photoperiod which is ramped up over time that everyone does, and use supplemental lighting to extend the viewable light period of the tank during the acclimation.

[Tater11]

i have a 220gal. 72-24-30.mainly sps lighting is aquamedic 3-250 watt hqi with pheonix 14k 4inch sand bed.i am thinking of upgrading to 3 250watt lumenbrights with 12k reeflux.would this be a good investment?thank you..

[melev]

Originally posted by Tater11
i have a 220gal. 72-24-30.mainly sps lighting is aquamedic 3-250 watt hqi with pheonix 14k 4inch sand bed.i am thinking of upgrading to 3 250watt lumenbrights with 12k reeflux.would this be a good investment?thank you..

Have you read this article yet?

Product Review: Coralvue LumenBright Reflector Review

[Tater11]

Originally posted by melev
[B]Have you read this article yet?

Product Review: Coralvue LumenBright Reflector Review [/

B]

good read thanks.

[volivier]

When you wire the two cords together, just peel the plastic off the one with wire pliers then match colors right? Use a splice/not sure the tech. term. My hubby has some wiring supplies somewhere in the shop.

[volivier]

Is the top of the reflector strong enough for a screw through the top hole into a board? I'm worried about it tearing from the weight.

Here on the farm we put a washer next to the head of a bolt so it doesnt pull through.