Acclimating Corals from T5 to T5/LED

[Patrick Cox]

Hello,
I just ordered a new ATI LED Powermodule and will be moving from a 6x39w ATI T5 fixture to a 4x39w T5 + 2x75w LED fixture. My tank is 75G, 36x24x20. My question is how I should acclimate my corals to both the intensity and light type change. I have a par meter so I can measure the par in my tank on the old fixture and then the new fixture and adjust the light intensity to match par. But I am not sure if I need to take any precautions about adding the LED component of the lighting. My hope is to get to more LED source light vs T5 for aesthetic reasons but I also don't want to shock my corals so I plan to make a gradual change.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Any suggestions on switching from 100% T5 to a T5/LED combination? Thanks.

 

[emerald crab]

I switched from T5 to LEDs about 2 years ago. Mine are DIY light fixtures using the "Dream Chip".
The way I did it was (I don't claim it is the best way to do it), I left 2 ATI 454 working( out of 6 t5s) and supplemented with the LEDs at about 40%. After 2-3 weeks I removed the T5s and I start ramping up the LEDs about 5% a week.
It takes a long time to tweak the LED spectrum and intensity to get good colors and good growth.

 

[Reefvet]

I frequently bring frags home from T5 tanks and put them under 300-400 par level LEDs. I just keep an eye on them. If something starts to lighten it'll happen in a couple of days. I just move the frag to a more shaded area.

I recently added an ORA Pink birdnest that barely had any color growing under T5s. Within 5 days it colored into a nice pink. Now 2 weeks later it's growing quickly and looks great.

I added an ORA Ponape birdnest at the same time. It lightened a little but it's doing fine. I'll leave it and let it acclimate on it's own.

Corals are highly adaptive if the other tank parameters are stable.

 

[Akrite]

I went from ATI POWERMODULE 8x54watt to 2 Radion Pros gen 2. I set me radians @ 40% and ramped up to 70% over 4 weeks. Most of my SPS coral kept their color and all survived. I recommend running the T5s like u normally do and start the LEDs at 40% and increase them over 4 weeks until you reach the percentage you want of color start to brown or fade.

 

[Big E]

There's a lot of good info here in this thread. He switched to a power module/hybrid from T5.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2348052&page=19

I would also look up the large Power module thread in the lighting section.

 

[aquaph8]

I went from a 12x54w Sfiligoi stealth to a 8x80 with led Genesis fixture, I started at 50% and raised it a little every couple days. Only 1-2% at a time. I'm a pretty patient guy though.

 

[Reefvet]

So a cumulative opinion based on the last few posts would suggest observing the corals color, starting at half power or so and slowly ramp them up. Continue to watch the corals color and adjust accordingly.

Learning to keep a reef by observation of the corals health and less by numbers sounds more like husbandry and less like science. I think the corals will like that. :love1:

 

[ZON]

My suggests are switch off red leds and low at 50% white for almost 4 weeks..also start from 60% other leds b /rb and raise 10% every week ..after 1 month you can see tank reaction well

 

[GroktheCube]

I'd start at bit less than half power, and a pretty steep ramp up/down curve, and slowly brighten the LEDs and flatten the curve over time.