halide acclimation!

[fishieness]

you know what that means! i am finaly upgrading!!(well.... not finaly, jsut after like 6 months of PCs). I am tired of having to reserch what i can and cannot keep! It is a 15K 175 watt metal halide and two 65 watt actinics! My mom jsut ordered them for my birthday on monday! :joy: Oh man, im excited. Im so excited to finaly be able to keep anythign with confidence as well as being able to keep more things and being able to keep more things healthy! But how exactly should i go about acclimating my corals? It is a 40 breeder tank (36LX18WX16T) and its 305 watts of light! Im upgrading from 192 watts of PC. How long should i leave on the halide light a day? There are two switches so i can leave on the PCs for the entire day.
BTW, the halides are odyssea. Not the best i know.... But my Odyssea PCs have been fine for me. I figure this is a good step up for a (soon to be) 17 year old kid.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

 

[escape2thewater]

I usually cut my photoperoid in half for the new MH bulbs at first. Then slowly add an hour every week or 2 until your back to your normal time. Some may say this is too fast but I havent had any probs doing it this way. Congrats on your upgrade & good luck! You will love how much better your tank looks under MH light!
Escape
:happyfish

 

[fishieness]

thank you very much!!! I was imagining that it was somewhere around that time frame form posts i have read in the past, but jsut wanted to make sure that i dont burn anything. Ill move my hammer and frog down (although it is such a shallow tank that there isnt much room down for them to go), and all my other corals like mushrooms, a blasto, and zoos over to the side for now. It is only a 175 watt on a 36 inch tank, so i think mocing to the side would be a good start. Ill keep some like the blasto on the side always.
yeah, i have just become tired to knowing that there are some amazing things out there that i jsut cant keep. ive also become tired with seeing how much nicer the colors are of the same corals that people have here with metal halides. :joy:

 

[fishieness]

ok...... so how about once i buy corals like mushrooms and polyps that my LFS keeps under NO!?! Do i have to reacclimate the entire tank all over again each time i get something out of their softie tank? can i get away but jsut putting them in the tank and facing them away from the lights in the corner? It is only a 175 watt halide in a 36 inch long tank too.....
thank you
they should be here soon!

 

[mdog30001]

MAKE SURE THAT U DONT BURN UR CORALS. i burned about a 1/4 of my beautoful brain coral. Dont make my mistake. Im not sure how u would go about not burning ur corals but theres probably a way,.

 

[fishieness]

yeah. lol. This is why im making this post..... To see how long other people have acclimated their corals so that they dont burn..... When you acclimate new corals mdog3001, like form your LFS. do you ever acclimate them from PCs or NOs? If so, how and for how long? Do you just lessen the amount of time that your hadies run? Or is there another trick without messing up the photosynthesis of the bacteria in the corals?
PS: today is my birthday

 

[fishieness]

guess what i got in the mail today?!!!

:cheer:

 

[reefnut]

Originally Posted by fishieness
ok...... so how about once i buy corals like mushrooms and polyps that my LFS keeps under NO!?! Do i have to reacclimate the entire tank all over again each time i get something out of their softie tank?!
Typically you can put new corals low in the tank on the sand bed or even shaded a little to acclimate them. After a couple weeks slowly move them up the rock work until they reach their final location. The slower the better for moderate or low light corals!!
I'd acclimate the tank by starting around 4 hours a day for a couple weeks and increasing an hour each week. The slower the better for the MHs. Run the PC actinic's the full time... 10 hours or what ever you're running now.

 

[fishieness]

thanks so much for the reply reefnut! i got some timers so that should be fine. The bulb is 20K too...... would that be better to start out with? I have a 10K also. But since 20K is not as good for growing corals would it be better to start with that one? Also, im going form 192 watts of PC to only 130, so there will be a pretty big jump the rest of the time. WOuld it be okay for acclimating new corals just if i put them on the bottom even though i have a 40 breeder tank that is only 18 inches high? Im thinking a shaded region may be better.?
thank you very much for your time.
oh man am i excited!
im not goign to get to my bio lab tonight...well.... not until later

 

[fishieness]

oh man, i got them up and running!!! soooooo sweet!!!

and BTW, it says it came with a 20000K bulb, but im pretty sure that it is just a 10000K because it is white and has been warming up for a while...... I bought another 10000K because i thought i would have to replace it. So scratch the idea about running the 20000K.

 

[reefer123]

let's see some pictures.

 

[fishieness]

tomorrow...... I have an AP bio lab due tomorrow and i am yet to start. and living on the east cost, it is already 8. Plus this sight has already distracted me enough!
But tomorrow i have school then a little work then an audition for Chicogo. Ill be home tomorrow night so hopefully then!

 

[rumrunner]

Another technique that works is getting the white plastic eggcrate and used for flourescent light fixtures and some window screen. It can be found at Home Depot, etc.. Sit it over your tank below the light and cut patches of window screen and place them on the eggcrate directly over the coral you want to acclimate. I usually put about 6 layers on there and remove a layer every few days. Doing this allows you to place the coral where you want it right away. You also don't have to decrease your lighting schedule. It works really well.

 

[fishieness]

that is a good idea!! I already have eggcrate because my snowflake will be going to my reef when he gets big enough to not fit through the holes. Ill definatly give that method a try sometime!