New 75g Tank- 2x250 MH w/ 2x110 Flour. VHO Actinic- How to Prevent Burning Corals?

hi so im getting a used 75 gallon tank- standard 48 inches. Its coming with a Hamilton technology retro kit with 2 x 250 watt 14k Metal Halides and 2 x 110 Super blue actinic VHO's. My LFS hold their corals under 250's so they say it shouldnt be a problem transitioning but i want to be sure. I am going to house lfs and sps. If anyone has a good lighting schedule that would be greatly appreciated. My ideal viewing times are from 3:30pm to 11:00pm. here is the light itself.




thanks

Patrick

 

Hi Patrick

one of the most common ways to acclimatise corals to MH lighting is to suspend them above the tank, and then lower them by a couple of inches each week until they are at the target height you want above the reef

if you are getting corals from a tank with similar light output, make a note of the corals distance from the lighting and when you put it in your tank try and get it lower or at a similar distance from the lighting - so if you see an LPS and it looks to be 30 inches and off to the side of the MH - you dont want to put it right underneath your MH lamps 20 inches below the lamp

light period - 12 hours for the actinic and 8 - 10 hours for the MH should be adequate and does replicate the light up period in the tropics

an alternative method to light acclimatise corals if you cannot/do not have the luxury of a pendant or canopy that can be lowered - is to either

cut down light up period of MH and then increase by an hour each week for 4 weeks
so start with 4 hours and then week after move to 5, then next week 6 - and so on and so on

another option is to use screens 4 x layers of screen and then remove 1 screen each week so the light increases gradually and the corals adjust each week to the increase in light

Steve

 

Would you recommend that I have the actinics off while the MH are on or do them at the same time just 3 or so hours less for the MH? what I am mainly trying to prevent is a disaster similar to the one Otty just experienced.


Quote:

First off I had my light controller get flaky on me and cycled my MH's all night long. When I got up in the morning I notice that only two of the lights were on. Not thinking they done any damage I changed out the controller and ran the bulbs another 6 months until my 12 month change of bulbs. During this time I notice cayno building on the sand and tried everything to get rid of it as I don't over feed the tank, but never thought the lights would have caused it. Once the 12 month time came I got new bulbs changed out and didn't realize how bad the others were. In one 8 hr period of the new MH's being on I cooked about 80% of the coral in the tank

Ottys 265 Tank Thread Pg. 81

 

I like to know what lighting and hight the coral I am buying are under previously, then I copy it closely.