Do i really need to acclimate corals to LED

[Bowels]

I just switched from a 13 hr T5 and 6hr 250watt metal halide fixture / routine to 2 kessil a150w 15k LED fixtures, do I really need to acclimate them...

I took my regular bulb fixture down and all the corals closed up and acted like it was nighttime, then i put the kessils on and they came out and acted like their lord and savior poseidon had returned and all opened up with colors ive never seen before, soo vivid and bright... i left the LEDs on for 2 more hrs 6-8 that night after their 8 hr day or t5s thus far...

I really think limiting the LEDs to like 4 hrs would be a lot less light than they had been getting... but I know nothing

I really need someones expert advice.

I really need to know what kinda photo period to put them on... I cant lose the corals and I also want to look at them! lol 4 hrs is like throwing a stick in front of a roller (me) lol

thanks

[BowedFloor]

I'd do 6-8 hours and watch for signs of bleaching. if they start to bleach you are running too much light.

But I don't know much either.

[Reefmedic79]

Your at greater risk of losing your corals by not acclimating them. Corals can survive with little to no light for 3-4 days without any issues. While to our eyes LED may not appear that intense, I assure you that they are much more intense than they appear.

If you can't dim the lights then slowly increasing the total photo period is the best way to acclimate them. Starting at 4 hours total each day is a good conservative starting point, increasing an hour every 5-7 days until your at max you want for a day.

[Bowels]

Well alright :-/

[Bowels]

Does it matter what time I give them their photo period? Because id prefer it be from like 545-945 pm

[Reefmedic79]

Nope, set it to when you'll most likely be home is fine.

[Bowels]

Hey thank you very much for your help! Two other quick questions if you know them, what would be the recommended photo period for my situation...I have some sps, but im mostly a softie maybe will get some lps... and also should I really start at four hrs? Going from metal halide? Are the leds really that much more intense? I would believe it...the colors are way way crazier lol

[Reefmedic79]

4 hr.s would be on the very safe side, but I think starting at 6 should be fine, you'll want to keep a close eye on how the corals react though for the first couple of days after you increase them though. Look for them getting paler, closing up or retracting thier polyps as signs of moving too quickly. They are that much more intense as they focus the light they emit onto a smaller area, similar to a laser that can't really light up a room, but at the right wattage can burn a hole through objects if focused properly.

How long you leave them on is entirely up to you, IMO&E anywhere from 10-14 hours is about the average for most reefers, but I've seen some as short as 6 and as much as 16 hours without any noticeable issues.

[Bowels]

theoretically, since the corals grow from photosynthesis, i would think that the more light = more coral growth? am I wrong. But thank you very much for all that info, ill put it to 5 for the first week and watching them is no issue im constantly in front of the tank... if I didnt have a gf I would prob just move my arm chair over there and be next to it 100% of the time.... i

[MondoBongo]

Originally Posted by Bowels

theoretically, since the corals grow from photosynthesis, i would think that the more light = more coral growth? am I wrong. But thank you very much for all that info, ill put it to 5 for the first week and watching them is no issue im constantly in front of the tank... if I didnt have a gf I would prob just move my arm chair over there and be next to it 100% of the time.... i

Zooxanthellae need time to acclimate. there are several different "Clades" and sub sub-clades of the organism. each with their own properties and tolerances for light/heat/etc...

one of the main properties they all posses is the ability to manufacture a natural "sun screen" that helps absorb and mitigate UV radiation. however it takes a little time for the little flagella to start producing enough of this chemical to shied themselves from excess UV radiation.

this is why photo acclimation is important. it gives the Zooxanthellae time to being manufacturing their sun screen at appropriate levels.

if you don't have the ability to dim, aside from adjusting photo period length you can always use covers on the tank. some egg crate or mesh to help decrease the amount of light reaching the tank.

for new arrivals after everyone else has been acclimated, i usually start them off lower down in the tank on the sides, and over a period of days to weeks move them to where i want them to be. it is also possible to use an upturned gladware or similar container to shield them for portions of the day.

http://download.springer.com/static/...9f942&ext=.pdf

-edit- i just remembered browsing these articles that the UV screen is known as "mycosporine-like amino acids"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16621697
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycospo...ike_amino_acid

[thegrun]

Are your LEDs dimmable? Things get a little more complicated with a dimmable system. You can overexpose your coral and burn them if you are not careful. Under MH lighting, a 6 hour photoperiod is the optimum durations as far as growth goes. Longer photo periods actually slow down growth as the corals cannot support the extended intense lighting period. With dimmable LEDs a 3-4 hour ramp up from zero duration and then a 3-4 hour period at maximum intensity works well. Using a PAR meter to read your current lighting and then matching that intensity with your LEDs is by far the best way to set up your system.

[Bowels]

Not dimmable thanks

[Bowels]

this was very helpful, thank you. my lights arent dimmable so im going to start them at 5 hrs and watch them like a hawk. give them a week then up the time by an hr and watch them. That sounds like it should be good. 4 hrs is just such a small window to look at them!

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

Zooxanthellae need time to acclimate. there are several different "Clades" and sub sub-clades of the organism. each with their own properties and tolerances for light/heat/etc...

one of the main properties they all posses is the ability to manufacture a natural "sun screen" that helps absorb and mitigate UV radiation. however it takes a little time for the little flagella to start producing enough of this chemical to shied themselves from excess UV radiation.

this is why photo acclimation is important. it gives the Zooxanthellae time to being manufacturing their sun screen at appropriate levels.

if you don't have the ability to dim, aside from adjusting photo period length you can always use covers on the tank. some egg crate or mesh to help decrease the amount of light reaching the tank.

for new arrivals after everyone else has been acclimated, i usually start them off lower down in the tank on the sides, and over a period of days to weeks move them to where i want them to be. it is also possible to use an upturned gladware or similar container to shield them for portions of the day.

http://download.springer.com/static/...9f942&ext=.pdf

-edit- i just remembered browsing these articles that the UV screen is known as "mycosporine-like amino acids"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16621697
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycospo...ike_amino_acid

[thegrun]

Since they are not dimmable, you may want to cover the top of the tank with a few layers of standard window screen to shade the tank. That would allow you to run the lights for a longer 8 hour photoperiod. After the first week if there is no bleaching remove one screen and continue removing a screen a week until they are gone. If you start to see coral browning (the usual sign of too little light) remove a screen and monitor the corals.

[MondoBongo]

Originally Posted by Bowels

this was very helpful, thank you. my lights arent dimmable so im going to start them at 5 hrs and watch them like a hawk. give them a week then up the time by an hr and watch them. That sounds like it should be good. 4 hrs is just such a small window to look at them!

my pleasure.

i was doing some research a few weeks back on clam breeding and ran across some very interesting articles on Symbiodinium sp. with the different clades and properties they posses.

glad i could share it.

[Bowels]

just an fyi ppl these kessils make the corals look fantastic, i thought id be disappointed going from the t5s and halide because the light would be mostly blue... but quite the opposite there are colors on the corals id never even seen before!

[007Bond]

A good idea, as a lot of reefers in the know suggest...photos. Take pictures daily when you are trying to decide if something new is working or not. Better than trying to remember what you think you saw. If your watching for growth, weekly or monthly, and keep a log, it helps.

[Saltliquid]

If you have the room just keep your leds up higher off the water and then lower them in increments, this is far easier if you can do it then dimming.
The air will defuse your lighting as does the water.
Leds have near no uvr, which makes them, “once the corals are use to them”, far better for corals then old school resistance lighting.
Photosynthesis is from colour excitation and has nothing to do with radiation; its actually harmful to all life especially plants, though it does help with evolutionary mutations.

[RB_PWR]

Originally Posted by Bowels

I took my regular bulb fixture down and all the corals closed up and acted like it was nighttime, then i put the kessils on and they came out and acted like their lord and savior poseidon had returned and all opened up with colors ive never seen before

[Bowels]

Thanks for the tips guys. everything it's doing marvelously so far I've got great extension and color...I have a four hr photo period ill be going to 5 next week. The digi I got started to turn white I think he'll be ok I moved him to the sand bed. Params are good and I drop acclimated fir an hr so I think it's a lighting issue idk we shall see I will start taking pictures daily our every few days

[stancfii]

I agree with taking pics. Those clades/proteins look super awesome now, but they were grown under T5/MH. Once they aren't receiving that spectrum, they won't produce as much or the same protein/clades as they did, and you will gradually notice color changes or possible loss of color, depending on the species of SPS.

[vitz]

Originally Posted by Bowels

theoretically, since the corals grow from photosynthesis, i would think that the more light = more coral growth? am I wrong. But thank you very much for all that info, ill put it to 5 for the first week and watching them is no issue im constantly in front of the tank... if I didnt have a gf I would prob just move my arm chair over there and be next to it 100% of the time.... i

up to a point only.

algaes do not photosynthesize continuously under continuous light period, or at the least, they'll do it at a fairly reduced rate-studies show that the total net photosynthesis is actually greater when a night period is used (think of a hamster running on a treadmill-he can't keep running 24 hrs/day w/out REST

after 12 hrs, your doing nothing beneficial to anything except your elec. utility's stock value, hehe.

also-if you force the symbiont algaes in the coral's tissue to produce too much O2, you can start to burn the coral from the inside out, at which point the coral will dump its zooxanthellae (bleaching). this is why acclimation to led's is important-you can start w/a short photoperiod, a greater distance away from the light, dimming the intensity-either stand alone or 'mix 'n match'

at a max, you only need 8-9 hrs photoperiod to keep any photosynthesizing coral happy. the intensity and spectrum are more important than photoperiod length though.