Hellooooo Lights!

[reefin_with_jesus]

I just received my 46.5", 4 lamp VHO retro kit from HelloLights.com yesterday. It's simply awesome. There's quite a difference between the 40 watts that were there and the 440 watts that are there now. I have a question for you guys. Should I acclimate my tank to the new lights, or can I just go ahead and run them full speed? The only thing in the tank at the moment is 47 lbs. of LR and a few green chromises. Thanks for your help, all. Lance.

 

[adrian]

I would go ahead and acclimate the tank to the new lights, it is possible to bleach the coralline on your rocks. Better safe than sorry

 

[volitan]

IME, you definitely need to cut you photoperiod in half, and slowly increase it to build it back up to the time you had before. When I went to a 4- bulb VHO, my corals looked like crap for about the first 2 or 3 weeks. After they got used to the additional ammount of light, they you are doing great. HTH

 

[bigeyedfish]

glad to hear you are pleased with your order. i am going to order the same exact package next month. gotta space out the credit card orders
i was wondering. did you get the 4 bulb kit that runs all bulbs at once?? i was thinking about buying two two bulb kits so that i can run the actinics on one ballast and the daylights on another. what do you think??

 

[reefin_with_jesus]

SaltyJay,
I got the 4 lamp ballast and keep my actinics and daylights all on that ballast. I put a 40-watt NO actinic bulb in the old fixture that came with the tank and I set that one to come on before and go off after the main lights. If this is an option for you, that's a good way to do it. I was able to because I have a 90 gallon tank (20" wide under the hood). If this is not an option, then getting 2 ballasts may be a better choice. However, if I were going to get 2 ballast I would just go ahead and get 2 4-lamp ballasts in case you ever upgraded your tank. There's very little difference in the price. HTH. Lance.