Upgraded to MH...Need Help!

[michelle13]

I just recieved my metal halide today!!! It's a 175 watt with two 17 watt normal outputs (1 actinic & 1 10K) on the side. It came with a 6500K bulb which I am changing to a 10K. I currently have 1 55 watt pc and a 20 watt normal output on my 29 gal tank. So I have a few questions:
1. Do I need to put a piece of glass between the new light and the water for a UV shield??? How far above the water should the lights be?
2. I have heard of burn in time for new bulbs?? What is this?
3. We are going to put the light in the cabinet above the tank.....do we need some sort of a fan for cooling?
4. How do I acclimate my fish and inverts (mushrooms & BTA) to the new light?? Should I just run the MH certain times?
Thanks for any help!

 

[treble]

I just left my shrooms in the light and they eventually acclimated to it within a week, no added stress. I mounted mine about 7" above the tank. In a closed canopy get some CPU fans blowing air in and out.

 

[fishfood]

Some of the shrooms may have a hard time adjusting to the mh. I had some green stripe and red with purple dots that hated my mh. After 4 or 5 months they all moved to the under side of the rock. I have some other green ones that it didnt' seem to bother but the others just never opened up under my 175mh bulb.

 

[tableforglasses]

I would say w/any sort of metal halide bulb to install some sort of cooling system. Those bulbs will get real hot real quick. I've got a 400 watt 10k in my canopy now and it can raise the temp of the water 4 or 5 degrees within a couple hours. A 175 won't be quite as bad, but will be very hot. I have looked at posts here and what people have to say and based on my experience and research I would say put a fan that is blowing air out of the tank not simply cooling the bulb that is how I originally had mine set up and it just stirred hot air around, but now with air blowing out it works much better. Just my 2 cents for whatever it's worth.
sean