Fluorescents to MH's - Acclimation?

[kanicky]

Hi all

This is the first time I've ventured over to this part of the board...
We currently have "skimpy" lighting in our tank: (2) 30 watt fluorescents and (2) 30 watt actinics.
We're about to upgrade to a Metal Halide kit: 250 watt, 12,000k kit. Our favorite "fish guy" is giving us a dimmable ballast, which is, of course, amazingly awesome!
Anyway, our small problem lies in acclimation... how do we acclimate our fish to the new lighting. I assume it will be a little easier since the ballast is dimmable, but I'm sure there's still more to do.
Any and all advice is appreciated!

 

[rcoultas]

If you are keeping the fluorescents then you should turn them on for an hour before turning on the MH's. Try to simulate the the natural lighting - like dusk to dawn. Going straight to MH's from darkness would not be detrimental to fish (since they do not turn on instantly) but it does shock some corals so for them placement will need to be modified to suit their lighting needs.

 

[jrthomas40]

some people shade the tank with a few layers of door screening...and leaving the light cycle the same...others just start off with like an hour of halide cycle everyday for a week then move it up an hour every week afterwards...or something of the sort

 

[kanicky]

Okay, sounds good... thought it would be more complicated than that, but I'm glad I was wrong. We do have eggcrate on top of our tank, so that should help I think...
I'm really excited now, because I can do more with the tank than zoo's and mushrooms

Thanks so much for the replies!