Please Help

[aandersen]

I just purchased a 260 watt Coralife Aqualight....so I have gone from 30 watts to 260 watts, when I turned my lights on my fish got very stressed and layed on the bottom breathing hard, so I turned them off right away and they were fine within a minute or so.....What can I do to acclimate them to my new lighting that will not stress them out????? :notsure:

 

[gbpack]

cover portions of the lite to keep out most all the light. Use card board or a piece of sheet metal. Then over the next week or so expose more and more of the light to the tank. They should adjust. You gave the fish the deer in the headlights pose and shocked the crap out of them.

 

[tizzo]

You could maybe try to turn on all the lights in the room for a few minutes before you turn on the tank lights. All the lights in the room and the actinics (if they are on a seperate switch).

 

[aandersen]

I have just the actinics on now and the fish are fine, the only problem with that is that is a room with very little light and I did turn them all on before I turned the tank lights on...also, does anyone know how hot those lights get, is it safe to put cardboard under them to filter some of the light?????

 

[tizzo]

Yeah, I use to use those... They barely get hot at all!! Cardboard would be fine!!!

 

[tizzo]

I have kinda a wierd question for ya, Do your fish usually get light this late?? I know some people have their timers set differently because they work 2nd shift or something so I'm curious. Because if I went out and turned on my tank lights now, my fish would spazz! It's midnight here, now.

 

[whiner2]

from what i have read here on different posts you should try to keep a good routine schedule for your lights. also, to try and ease the brightness of all your lights at once bysetting them on a timer to have your anctics come on about an hour before your other lights and and hour after your lights go off. this is a "dusk/dawn" effect and more simulates the natural enviroment.
...but sometimes i do cheat and look at them at nite. they dont seem to mind.
HTH

 

[aandersen]

I do usually have them on a timer from 11:30 am to 11:30 pm I haven't had the actinics before so I will turn them on 1 hour before and leave them on an hour longer.

 

[whiner2]

i find if i leave my lights on for a long time i get a nice surprise of algae or diatoms when i come home.