Advice for switching bulbs

[CoralBandit]

Hey everyone so I was messing with my bulb last night b/c I had a wild idea of turning it just because one side of my tank had great colors and the other not so great and very little polyp ext. Anyways as I took the bulb out it broke... story of my life. Luckily I have 2 phoenix's lying around for replacements. I have been wanting to put them in to give my corals a broader spectrum (i had two 250w 20k helios and 2x54w actnic + geissman = super blue spectrum) And now I am putting in two 250 w 14k pheonix's

My real ? is do you all think i should turn back my lighting schedule since corals will indeed be blasted with more par? I turned it down from 6 to five hours is that sufficient or should I turn them way way down to 2-3 hours then add a half hour a week??? Let me know your experiences R2R :wink:

 

[Tanked]

From my experience its not how long the exposure is its how much.Screen is good to use, by layering it you can take a layer a week off with no ill affects.Another way is to raise your lights up but alot of people don't have that abbility.Also eggcrate can be used in place of screen.JMO

 

[Wy Renegade]

Hey everyone so I was messing with my bulb last night b/c I had a wild idea of turning it just because one side of my tank had great colors and the other not so great and very little polyp ext. Anyways as I took the bulb out it broke... story of my life. Luckily I have 2 phoenix's lying around for replacements. I have been wanting to put them in to give my corals a broader spectrum (i had two 250w 20k helios and 2x54w actnic + geissman = super blue spectrum) And now I am putting in two 250 w 14k pheonix's

My real ? is do you all think i should turn back my lighting schedule since corals will indeed be blasted with more par? I turned it down from 6 to five hours is that sufficient or should I turn them way way down to 2-3 hours then add a half hour a week??? Let me know your experiences R2R :wink:

IME its much easier to go to the local hardware store and acquire two or three sheets of the black fiberglass mesh that is the same dimensions as the top of your tank. When you put the new bulbs in, cover the top with both (or all three) sheets of the mesh, rather than reducing the lighting schedule. After a week take off one sheet, 2nd week the second and 3rd week the third. At the end of three weeks, your corals will be aclimated to the increased lighting, without having to mess with timers and lighting schedules.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Many people not only reduce the time but also add multiple layers of window screen between the lights and tank to reduce the light getting to the corals so it does not bleach them. You remove a layer of screen every few days until they are all gone and slowly increase the time.

 

[CoralBandit]

Thanks for advice I guess I will raise them today and turn them off after a couple hours I wont have time to go to homedepot till thursday I forgot about that little trick. so three layers should be sufficient?

 

[EliteReefs]

if you change your bulbs on a regular basis before allowing them to degrade very much you should have no problem just replacing the bulb and continue as normal. i change bulbs every 6 months and do nothing but change the bulb. never have a seen any ill effect

 

[CoralBandit]

but I changed the type of bulb... drastic par difference They are only 6 months old but going from 20 -> 14k

 

[EliteReefs]

but I changed the type of bulb... drastic par difference They are only 6 months old but going from 20 -> 14k

ahh this is true. i missed that part.