adjustment to new lights, plse help

[adamt]

Yesterday I switched out my wave point bulbs and other low end stock t5's with 3 blue +, 1 actinic white, 1 super actinic, 1 aquablue special.

My corals seemed a little tight today, theyre not showing the polyp extension I normally see. Im wondering if theres something I should do to help my corals adjust to the new high par bulbs. I shortened my day light cycle by two hours to help the corals adjust but im not too sure that was the right move. The new lights put out an overall color thats more blue than the previous bulbs were.

Im just a little concerned with the way the tank looks today. I was expecting my corals to explode under the new lights and thats not what Im getting.... Plse help, Im freaking out!!!!

 

[PeterD]

how long have they been under the lights nevermind
You should wait for at least 3 days maybe more for them to get adjusted
its the same fixture right just new bulbs

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Shortening the day cycle was a good move. Now, let it ride out for a week like that and then bring it back one hour a week until you're back at your normal. But, once you start to raise it up again, keep a good eye on things and watch out for anything getting burned. Good luck

 

[adamt]

cool thanks guys... Ill make sure I ease the corals in to the new lights.

yeah its the same two fixtures, I just replaced the bulbs. I still havent seen any reliable par readings for wave point bulbs so I cant say with 100% certainty that my par output is even that much higher than it was. I have run the wavepoint blue wave side by side with the ati blue + and the wavepoint was brighter, but Im still reasonably sure that my new bulbs have far superior par (esp the solarmax bulbs I replaced, they were the worst).

I redid my bulb combo again Im now running 3 blue+, 1 wavepoint bluewave, 1 aquablue special, and 1 actinic white. After comparing the two combos, I saw no reason to sacrifice par from a blue+ for the purple of an 03 actinic. I actually get more pop w/o the super actinic. Oddly enough the tank is not as blue as i expected it would be. Dont get me wrong its pretty damn blue, but the actinic white and the aquablue special round it out nicely. The result is very visually appealing and I think my corals should grow well under it.


heh... its crazy to me that 7 years ago when I had my last reef tank, people would have laughed me off the thread if I voiced concern about burning sps under fluorescents. How far we've come...