Process of acclimating corals to new lights?? I'm doubling my lighting

Can anyone tell me what would be the best way to keep from harming my corals when adding on more lights?? I have a 125g tank and I have dual bulb t5's on each side and I bought two more dual lamp t5's to double my lighting so I can support higher light requiring corals such as the monti's I just got and some others. I don't want to burn any corals or possibly kill any and was jus wanting to see if there is a certain schedule I shuld follow when adding the extra lights.
THANK YOU;D

 

Keep the old lights on as usual. Turn on the new lights for a couple of hours and add an hour the the length on per week until it matches the current schedule.

 

I doubled my t-5 lighting last summer. What 2in10 said is fine. I just turned em on with no problems I dont think it is that big of a deal unless you are going from t-5 to halide. In that case I started at 4 hrs and added 1/2 hr every 2 days with no ill effects.

 

Well since you did the same thing ill go ahead and follow that since u had no ill effects and it will be faster that way i can put the acintics in one fixture and the powerglos(white) in the other, thats the way i want it to be part of the reason i bought fixtures to double my lighting.
Thank you guys very much!

 

jweesel151

before you go with running the lights for same amount of time as existing lights
there are other things to consider

1 what is your current Nitrate level
2 what is your current PO4 level
3 do you have a algae problem at present

because the above things also influence how you increase your lighting

whilst corals may adapt to this upgrade
( Im not sure, I have always done the gradual phase in when I have increased number of T5 tubes)

you could end up with an algae outbreak if there are nutrients present and you increase lighting to rapidly IMO

Steve

 

I'll test my levels tonite and let you know what I get. I have had a lil trouble with nitrates thus far but theyve been lowering and thats why I am working on turning my wet/dry sump into a refugium as soon as I find a place to buy acrylic to make a few baffles.