Quote:
Originally Posted by
Siptang http:///forum/thread/387027/installing-metal-halides-into-a-canopy-questions/40#post_3405604
My tank has been running min. of 5-6 years.
I was searching online but found many different answers so I thought I would ask fellow members here who already have alot of experiences in keeping reef.
oh and i don't know if you know what I have in my tank already.
I have 2 brain corals with zoas, gsp, xenia (not expanding at ALL), hammer, leathers, colts, mushroom and want to add some hard coral later.
But taking out the 50/50 96w and adding full blue with this setup so far is ok right?
I was reading something about watts per gallon and some say that it's irrelevant and some say that it's still in effect...
confused.
Yeah the actinics are just fine. All your doing is taking a bulb that is half actinic and probably half 10K color and switching it or them with full actinics. Since you're really not changing intensity at all other than swapping out old bulbs with new ones then your tank should be just fine. Maybe run them for an hour less each day for a week or two to help ease the transition. But honestly don't think it will make that much of a difference in this case. If you were going from a weaker lighting set up to a stronger light set up then it would be better to acclimate the tank slowly. Watts per gallon...forget about it. Too many variables that very from system to system and between different types of lighting to keep using that rule as a guide line any more. If you're talking about a specific type of lighting then yeah, maybe you could use that rule. But differences in type of lighting, the way fixtures are built in regards to ballasts, reflectors, bulbs, depth of tank, livestock, etc....changes everything.
