upgrading to metal halides

[wangitytong]

hello all , In the next day or so I will be changing my lighting from a compact flr. with 3 -65 watt bulbs and 1 actinic to an aqualight pro 280 watt 1- 150 watt hqi and 2- 65 watt actinics 10000' hqi dbl end metal halide . My tank is a 56 gallon stretch hex approx. 32"x 15" x 20 deep it has about a 6 inch sand bed lots of live rock mayby 80 lbs my corals are flower and cabbage lesthers some fringed polyps striped mushrooms toadstool leather and a recently puchased blue athelia nice piece. a couple of black clowns yellow tang pistol shrimp/ gobie combo and an orange spot sand sifting gobie, boy does he keep the sandbed clean.
My ques concerns the transition to the new light I think i have just over 2 watts per gallon now and this change wiil bring it up to almost 6 .seems like that could be quite a shock if not done carefully. I have yet to build the suspension method and would appreciate any advice . i assume i should "hang em high" at first and slowly find the proper hgt and duration of lighting.... any help will be gladly recieved thanks all

[Ninong]

Hi wangitytong, welcome to Reefland!

Whenever you are increasing the intensity of the lighting, it's always a good idea to allow a period of at least three to four weeks for the corals to gradually adapt to the change. Raising the height of the fixtue is the best method but, when that is not practical, reducing the photoperiod helps. In your case you can simply raise the fixture and leave the photoperiod the same as it was.

The goal is to have as little change in the lighting as possible compared to the previous lighting. When the new lighting is more intense than the previous lighting, then you either raise it higher to accomplish this or you reduce the photoperiod. Either way, you gradually adjust it over the next three to four weeks until it is back to normal. Even if one were to be changing to less intense lighting for some reason or other, a period of gradual adjustment is recommended. In this instance the reverse would be true. It would be necessary to either lower the fixture (if practical) or increase the total photoperiod to as much as 14 hrs/day (the maximum you should go under any circumstances). If you have, or can borrow, a waterproof luxmeter to take an inside the tank before and after reading, then you can accomplish this task with great accuracy.

If your new fixture has separate power cords for the metal halide and the fluorescents, then I suggest that you run the fluorescents 12 hours/day and the metal halide 10 hrs/day. Start the fluorescents an hour before the halides and leave them on an hour after the halides.

[Reefland]

Hi wangitytong,

[wangitytong]

hey ninong thanks for the imput and to you scott z for the welcome



the fixture just came in fed ex, it's big, and I'm trying real hard to let it warm up on the table . it's about 38 deg here in R I . and at 49 years old I feel like a kid on Christmas. I'll try to send pics of what I have now (I'm a compu moron) and some more after the change . thanks again . great place to learn. -------- 10 mins later pics will have to wait ------(compu dope)

[Reefland]

Where's those pics?

[charlie]

That would make 2 of us that want to see those pics

[wangitytong]

Finaly got my pictures attached. Here are the pics with old lighting. New lighting pictures to come soon.

[ksfireman]

Great looking tank! I think you will be very pleased with the metal halides and the difference they can make. Be sure to post some more pictures with the new lights when you can.

P.S. Welcome to Reefland!

Bradd

[BubbaWPB]

I don't mean to hijack your thread, Wangitytong, but since you have both - how does your sailfin tang get along with your yellow tang?

[wangitytong]

Hi Bubba, The Tangs have been respectfully tolerant of each other. The yellow had been with me for a good two years when i hadahav the sailfin I changed the aquascape and added the sailfin and at first thuoght I had made a mistake, yellow was not happy and greeted the sail with many attacks. never nipping but kinda whacking him with his butt and just generally harrassing him . The sail ,after a few days stood his ground and butt whacked back, odd to watch , but cool, kinda like I v'e had to tell my kids "stand up to the bully " I added two skunk cleaner shrimp after about a week and the whole tank calmed right down. you could almost see the yellow chill out and spend his time being "caressed by the shrimp " now six moths later they will have their salad side by side and still chase each other, but it looks more playful than mean.
interestingly enough a guy from the lfs says he has six differant kinds of tangs in his tank . not sure how big his tank is . but he says they are cool with each other.
nice talking to you Ron