t5s to MH

so some of my corals have browned out a bit since putting them in my tank, ive heard that they will do this until they get used to the lighting. I am using t5s right now and am pretty sure most where grown out under MH? Not sure just guessing that most suppliers grow their corals out under MH. I bought some acros from Gonzos Coral Frags and ReefKoi. Does anyone know what they are using to light there frag tanks. I know at the ReefStock most booths were using LED lighting, but i think that was just for the show, IDK?
So anyway i was wondering how long they stay browned out before coloring back up? I was also messing around the other day and i put a K2 Viper 150w MH on my 40gal, just to see what it looked like and decide if i wanted to light the tank with MH rather than t5s. I was going to use the t5s first to see how i liked them, since i have never tried them before and the fixture came with my tank when i bought it. I must say that i REALLY liked the look of the tank lit by MH more than the t5s! The shimmer is great in a rimless tank! Also my black sand was kind of twinkling like diamonds from the light! RAD! So i think im going to take the t5s off and set it up with MH. I have a couple questions though.
1. For light acclimating my corals from t5 to MH, i was thinking of cutting back the light schedule to like an hour at first and increasing the time on by like 15min per day until i got up to about 6 hours or so. Does that sound like a good way to acclimate the corals?
2. I have 2 JBJ K2 Viper 150w MH light fixtures. Would using both of them on a 40gal breeder be too much light? I dont think it would especially with heading down the sps road.
3. Is there any other things i should do when making the switch over from t5s to MH?

 

Not saying the corals you got were chop shopped from fresh imported colonies, but since that appears to be the trend, I will tell you that it's natural for the coral to brown out. Maricultured and wild collected pieces have a tendency to brown out from the smallest of stress. You can get a shipment in and from the water in the bag getting too cold, your frags are brown when you get them.

Normally for coral to turn brown, you either have a change in parameters, such as high/low salinity, high/low alk, temp issues, high NO3's or PO4's, old bulbs, or not enough light. If it's light shock, the coral will normally bleach out, from intense lighting. Your T5's are actively cooled as well as have individual reflectors? If they do, they may have identical PAR output as your MH. I used to have a 10 bulb pendant, that I thought was the best. I switched to MH and love it. To acclimate the coral, if that is what you think you have to do, then raising the light, or using light diffusing net, and removing a sheet every week is the normal acclimation. I would bet that you don't have to change lights, or shall I say, I doubt your lights caused the brown out...

 

2x150 is perfect for a 40br, i would keep the lights maybe 9+" off the surface though

great for SPS, i recommend either a 20k radium, 20k elos, or 14k phoenix.

browning is often a combination of low light and high nutrients (phosphate particularly)

bleaching is from too much light or too high temperature or generally a combination.

many LFS don't take care of their frag tanks, have high phosphate (btw most tanks have high phosphate!) and have a frag tank full of brown sticks.... you take them home and put them under some good strong lighting with low phosphate and they turn nice pretty colors.

color temperature will often affect SPS coloration, generally SPS prefer lots of blue light and little in the yellow/green spectrum.

 

has anyone used the light acclimation process that i described.

 

^this

 

How many sheets do you use? I am going to use mesh screen material.

 

bump.