Lighting Q?

Alright I have a 6x54w T5 Fixture coming in this weekend. You have to put your lighting through some type of cycle right? Like first day actinics on for 1 hour the gradually adding more time with the lights. Just how long do i have to do this for? I just dont want a big algae bllom going on. Thanks!

 

Do you have any corals in the tank? If you don't, you really don't need to worry about acclimating the tank to the new lights.

 

Alright Thanks. I jus thought if you threw on new lights you will get a ton of algae.

 

Well, people have blamed their new lights for algae, but it's usually older lighting that causes more algae growth. If you water parameters are good, you should be ok.

 

If you have excess nutrients in the tank the lights will kick in an algae bloom most likely. I don't think any acclimation to light will help though, the only way to prevent it is to remove as many nutrients as you can beforehand via skimming/water changes etc.

 

This is definetly right...about 2 weeks ago I upgraded from old stock lights to new AquaticLife T5 HO lights and within two days I had a huge algae bloom occur.
I did acclimate the tank with the lights for about 3 days; don't know if I helped any but did it anyways.