Acclimating Toadstool Leather

I bought myself a 6x54W Nova Extreme Pro T5HO fixture with individual reflectors for Christmas. I'm upgrading from a 4x65W PC fixture. I thought I was taking it easy acclimating my tank by only having all 6 bulbs on for about 4 hours per day. I guess it was too much because my toadstool got a little bit sunburnt on its highest spot on a corner about the size of a dime. Polyps weren't coming out on that spot and it looked like it was a little blistered.

I reduced the lighting so the most I have on now is 4 bulbs at a time. It seems to be healing in that spot now. 4 bulbs are now on from 5 pm to 10 pm. 2 bulbs are on from 9 to 5 and from 10 to 11. All six bulbs are on for a few minutes during the transitions. I'm planning on increasing the time 4 bulbs are on 1 hour per day for 7 days until the 4 bulbs come on at 10 am. After that I'll start working in all 6 bulbs adding one hour per day until they are on from 10 am to 10 pm. I'll have 2 bulbs lit from 9 am to 10 am and from 10 pm to 11 pm. It should take 19 days to reach the final schedule.

Does this schedule sound reasonable?

Will my toadstool leather be able to adapt to the brighter light or do I need to move it lower in the tank? Right now it is the highest coral in the tank with the head about 1/3 down from the top of my 72g.

Thanks,
Paul

 

Having never done a transition, I am just guessing, but your plan does sound reasonable. I would move the leather down in your tank for sure. I plan on doing that with mine when I transition to T5s. Then after they have been acclimated to the light in terms of time, move them back to their original places. Almost all of my corals are in the top twelve inches of the tank and would not do well under more intense lighting that high up right off the bat.

 

Experiment with it! I have mine 6 inches below my 175 watt metal halide bulb with great results as its polyps extend outward and look marvelous!

 

I did a transition (without any coral) and I just want to let you know that you will see some various algae fluctuations. For the most part, the tank will catch up and it didn't get too bad for me... but I did end up adding an emerald crab to take care of some hair algae I got.

Good luck!

 

your plan sounds alrite to me and not bad. we always do the window screen in layers. depending on how much more brighter your going to take it the more layers. you layer it to about what your old tank light looked like and each or every other day you take a layer of screen off. please post back and let us know how its going

 

So far so good. The toadstool has completely healed as far as I can tell. I'm still planning on adding one hour of incremental light at a time. Everything seems to be doing fine except for my Zoas. These have been on the decline since I got them. I thought they would react better to the better light but they are staying closed up or, if open, are smaller. The total light they are getting now may be less than the tank was getting with my PCs. The tank won't see it's first hour of all six bulbs on at once until 1/2. I'll have to give it time.