Am I making the right decision?

[xxxjwxxx]

I have a 37g that is 24" deep. Im switching from a sunpod 150w to a 250w. THe pendant will be 6 - 8" from the water so that will put my tank around 30" deep. Currently my 150w is 2" from the water so its about 24 - 26" deep.

Am I making the right choice by going with a 250w for zoa's?

I plan on keeping some up top as well.

 

[ek9vboi]

Depends, are you planning to upgrade lighting just because or do you want it for SPS and so on?

If anything acclimate them to the lighting slowly so they don't die or bleach.

 

[MarvinsReef]

acclimation is key... once they adjust, they'll be fine.. what k are you using now? that might play a role also... I would recommend going with 14k, 15k, or 20k for zoas dominated tank..

use the screen method.. that's what I'm doing now since I upgraded from my 12g nano w/ PC to 32g w/ 250w MH..

 

[xxxjwxxx]

The blub is a 14k right now.

I'm getting my 250w this Wednesday and a fellow reefer told me to get egg crate and 6 - 7 pieces of screen and just take one screen off a day. So thats what I was going to do as far as the blubs, would it be better to use 10k for growth right now and in 6 - 8 months switch to a 20k blub for the color?

 

[xxxjwxxx]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7899099#post7899099 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ek9vboi
Depends, are you planning to upgrade lighting just because or do you want it for SPS and so on?

If anything acclimate them to the lighting slowly so they don't die or bleach.

Acutally I don't plan on keeping any SPS...

 

[hrstrnr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7900152#post7900152 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xxxjwxxx
Acutally I don't plan on keeping any SPS...

What are you keeping then??? If you're only keeping zoanthids, 250w is overkill and you may have to keep them under overhangs... Unless you're wanting the stronger lighting for clams or sps, I would stick with the 150w...

 

[MarvinsReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7900140#post7900140 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xxxjwxxx
The blub is a 14k right now.

I'm getting my 250w this Wednesday and a fellow reefer told me to get egg crate and 6 - 7 pieces of screen and just take one screen off a day. So thats what I was going to do as far as the blubs, would it be better to use 10k for growth right now and in 6 - 8 months switch to a 20k blub for the color?

the screen method is a great way to acclimate your zoas and other corals to the new lighting.. I used this method more than once with minimal couple of polyps casualties.. they always recover from the loss though (reproducing more polyps after couple of weeks)..

here's what I'm doing for this upgrade: 3 sheets of window screen (black ones you can buy at Lowes)... I'm also using eggcrate to support the screens..

I just recently took one off.. I plan on taking the rest every week so I should be done with the acclimation by next Friday.. yayayay!

good luck..

Marvin

 

[xxxjwxxx]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7902535#post7902535 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MarvinsReef
the screen method is a great way to acclimate your zoas and other corals to the new lighting.. I used this method more than once with minimal couple of polyps casualties.. they always recover from the loss though (reproducing more polyps after couple of weeks)..

here's what I'm doing for this upgrade: 3 sheets of window screen (black ones you can buy at Lowes)... I'm also using eggcrate to support the screens..

I just recently took one off.. I plan on taking the rest every week so I should be done with the acclimation by next Friday.. yayayay!

good luck..

Marvin

Ahh, I can't wait. Will zoa's grow faster with this light because its a 10k and more wattage.