MH acclimation, changing bulbs

I just read that you shouldn't change all your pcs at once...what if you only have one bulb?

I'm running a 150watt (10,000K) pendant with no PC's for actinics. The lack of blue is killing me so I'm upgrading to 14K or 20K, do I need to do anything special to acclimate the corals to this new color?

Also where does everyone recommend getting bulbs, I need 150 and 70s?

 

Hi,
You don't need to do anything to acclimate or replace the one metal halide bulb you have other than possibly decrease the amount of time you leave the mh on for a while as the PAR will be higher due to the new bulb. Gradually, work up to the duration you now leave the metal halide light on for your tank after a few weeks to avoid possible coral bleaching!!!!!
Check different websites for the best deals on Metal Halide bulbs is the only advice I can give ya!

 

I'm thinking of upgrading my 14K to 20K. It's just not blue enough...

 

Thanks for the heads up Rick. The pics of 14K's look allright, but you can't ever really trust a pic!

 

"I'm running a 150watt (10,000K) pendant with no PC's for actinics. The lack of blue is killing me so I'm upgrading to 14K or 20K, do I need to do anything special to acclimate the corals to this new color?"

No

 

Did you ever check out my teardown thread? You can check out the blue hue from those pics... it's a 14K. Maybe it can give you an idea of how blue it is. It's not blue enough for me. Plus, a lot of reefers say deeper blue hue's bring out better coloration.

 

The deeper blue coloration will give the sense of a deeper water reef slope area, as well as add to fish/corals flourescing(vibrant glow) and it will help to cut down on microalgae issues. The red end of the spectrum(light) will aid in growth of nuisance algae, where the blue/purple will help to cut it down to some degree.
One thing to keep in mind is that bulbs on the warmer higher kelvin spectrum don't keep their PAR as long as cooler, lower spectrum colors. Beacuse of this, I would replace your light(s) around 8-10 months time IMO.