125g switch to Halides; Before and after pics pg. 3

Hey everyone, today I made the switch. I went from 4- 54w T-5s to an Aquatic Life 48" 2- 150 watt halide, 4-54 watt T-5 fixture.
My tank dimensions are 60"x18"x24" deep. The fixture is 8" from the waters surface.
My plan is to run the T-5s on the normal 8 hour and to run the halides for 1 hour for 3 days and up the hour every 3 days till I'm at 6 hours. I plan to lower the fixture 1" after 1 week and another 1" after 2 weeks.

How does that sound. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

 

I would not lower the fixture anymore than 8 inches, as you will have splash issues and will heat the water more. Your break in and times sound great though, that is exactly how I adapted my tank to the halides, with no issues.

 

Agreed. Just keep an eye on your corals. If they start to bleach, you'll need to back off the MH for a few days, and then bump them up a little more slowly.

 

Thank you. I have an acrylic tank with 2 openings on the top and have glass for the top. I understand about the heat from the halides but also have a 1hp chiller. My concerns with the light being 8" from the surface is that the halides are 150w each and I didn't know if I would get the penetration that I need for a 24" deep tank. Does that change anything?

Understand about the bleaching, thank you.
I edited the post, it was late and I don't know what I was thinking. I know for a fact that their 54 watt T-5s

Thank you for the help.

 

Mine are 11 inches off the water, and let me tell you, that center support piece of glass in the middle of my tank gets REAL hot...so hot that water will steam if it gets on top. I don't think that an inch or 2 will make a great deal of penetration difference.

Then again, I am running 400w...You will just have to try it and see if you are comfortable with it.

 

Are yours DE or mogul base?

 

I'm sorry I don't know the abbreviations. I made a hanging bar so I can raise and lower as needed.

 

Sorry...DE is double ended bulb, Mogul is screw in

 

Good to know. 2 Phoenix 150w DE bulbs.

 

Did you know that Matt built in a cool feature on this site? If you hover your cursor over the abbreviation, it will tell you what it stands for. Try it. It's cool!!!