QUICK Lighting Questions (pics included)

[TOURKID]

Hey all! well I made the jump today. Pc's to MH.

But... I feel like I need to be told if this is right or not.

Heres my questions...

- Is the light to far or to close to the water? (ruler measures 4 inches from bottom of light to top of water not including egg crate and screens

- I left my pc's on 12 hours. Can I do that with the mh since i have screens or should I cut back on the light to 3-4 hours a day and then increase it slowly?

- tank looks darker with mh (with screens) than it did with pc's. I only have 3 screens laid down. to many?

and lastly

- I included a pic of my old lights each double tube or 'set' was labeled 65 watts. that meand I had a total of 130 watts before?

thank you so much Im just feeling insucure since I havent found a plethra of info about this stuff

old lights

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF1006.jpg

close up
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF1008.jpg

new light with screens on

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF1009.jpg

distance light to water
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF1010.jpg

[Jeffrey Porter]

what is the mh wattage and what is the egg crate and screen for? i've got a 75 and it is open top.

[dwdenny]

Jeffery he is acclimating any corals that he has in the tank. He went from PC to MH much more intensity form MH so the corals will react to the higher light(negetively most of the time). Corals can shrivle up an or die(worst case). HTH

[coralnut99]

I would back it off a couple of inches. The lens on the fixture gets very hot, and spray will permanently etch the glass and enough of them will cloud it significantly. It's tempered, so it's not just a pane of glass you can go out and replace very easily. It only takes the tiniest of bubbles to send some water a surprising distance above the water.

[TOURKID]

ok. so i have some red polyps (large tops) and theyve all turned themselves out. (instead of in like at dark time, the fringe is curled under towards stalk. Im guessing to much light.

ok. im going to raise it. should i keep it higher after acclimation though?

not enough screen?

BTW... I have an anemone in here, so I really gotta get this right.. quick :D

any advice would be much appreiciated

[conefree]

Love the Garanimals ruler :D

I would raise the lights up to probably 10-12", give them time to adjust and re-evaluate.

[Jeffrey Porter]

you could probable raise the light at least another 8 - 12 inches off the surface leave the screen as is (again what is it for) and slowly lower the light down to 6 inches off the surface over a period of a couple of weeks. you could also shorten the photoperiod for this time as well. after the light is down to the level that you want it, increase the photoperiod. i use a current usa outer orbit. 2 130 watt power compacts plus 2 150 watt hqi 10000 k halides. it is a little less than 6 inches off the surface. actinics 8am to 8:30 pm. halides 11am to 7:30 pm. also what wattage is your light and how many k? depending how thick your screen is it could trap a lot of excess heat in your system.

[TOURKID]

ok. i raised the light 4 inches (before i read this) everything started looking really bad, so light is off. Ill raise it another 8 inches next time i turn it on.

I feel weird about changing theyre light cycle from 12 on 12 off pc's to.. eveedently 3 or so hours of mh and thats it. anemone started pulling its foot out of its crevis, polyps turned completely outward geogonian polyps gone... everything bounced back as soon as i shut it off. so i guess im going to have to add minutes to theyre lighting schedule very slowly

jeffrey.. the screens are to acclimate the corals. theres 5 sheets of plastic window screen, you pull 1 off every 4 days or so, so everything can adjust to the lighting difference.

looks like mine werent to happy about it lol

[Jeffrey Porter]

never used the screen before. only a few reef tank hobbyists here . funny, in the middle of the ocean and almost no one even thinks to have a simple fish only tank. they'd rather buy freshwater fish . i just put a new isophyllia into my system a couple of weeks ago and it looks settled in now. i usually put new corals under a ledge for a while. hope it all works out.

[TOURKID]

i think im going to put my pc hood back on and give em there reg. light for the first4 hours, then mh for 2 hours then back to pcs and increase the mh time every other day. real pain moving the pc's on and off but then at least the tank is getting more light than 3 hrs total

the freshwater fish thing... that is weird lol

[xbenx92713]

well this is my opinion...yes keep the light a little higher...8"or so...leave it there for a few hours and check on the corals...are they enlarging at all or shriveld still...it shouldnt take too much for all the other corals to acclimate...the anemone will also run around and find his own spot but what do i know lol. pm me and let me know how its doing
~ben~