Introducing a t5 strip - how do do it without burning coral?

[Northern Flicker]

Hi all, I have a 25g Lagoon style tank with 2 Prime HDs. However, I’ve found that there is a lot of shadowing going on.

I was playing around with an old Sunblaster t5ho strip today over the tank and it actually looks incredible - no shadows while it’s on. So I decided to buy a hanging kit and an ATI Blue+ bulb and I’m going to set it up next week.

Thing is…I don’t want to fry everything. It’s a shallow tank, so the T5 will be mounted up high.

Would it be best to start with something like 15mins a day for a couple weeks, then slowly add 15 mins a week until I’m up around 4 hours? Obviously I’ll be watching the coral like a hawk.

Tank has all 3 of the major coral groups, but due to the lagoon style, there is only about 8” height difference between the SPS and the LPS. I generally manage PAR just by having the LPS t the sides where the 2 Prines don’t overlap.

 

[brandon429]

I put black electrical tape strips on the undersides of bright lighting as blocks, strategically placed, then slowly peel them off and reveal the right brightness for the setup based on height etc. aren't those lights tunable via knob or app? if not then obstruction works great. I have some freshwater planted tank strips that aren't tunable and I didn't want to hang them high, so white liquid tape is painted on the lighting splash guard effectively curtailing about 50% of the output thereby reducing my algae growth into perfect balance. alter the % strength not just the photoperiod ideally

 

[Hugster78]

If it’s 1 T5 bulb you will be fine. T5 is very forgiving. I replaced 5 primes with 8 bulb T5 and or3 bars. No acclimation. Everything was fine.