changing de bulbs

[kellymm7149]

I just got a new pair of phoenix 250w 14k de bulbs to swap out my old ones that are about a year old. My question is how to acclimate my tank to the new bulbs which I'm sure are more intense than the old ones, Should I raise my fixture and slowly lower it over a period of a week or reduce my photo period ? which method do you guys use and why do you think its best ?

 

[dots]

What did you have in there before?

If you are going from a 10K to a 14K, they will have less PAR and hence, less intense requiring no acclimation. Just let it run and observe over the couple of days to make sure.

The bulbs will be more "blue" than expected, but will lighten up as they burn in.

I replaced my 150 DEs with some Phoenix 14K about a month ago. IMO they were WAY too blue, after some research I found that Phoenix are a little more on average, you may see that for yourself. Rather than switch out the bulbs again, I switched one of my banks of actinics to full daylight Hamilton PCs and am very happy with the color now.

 

[jsweir]

Buy some window screen and use many layers, then take 1 or 2 out a week...

 

[kellymm7149]

i going with the same bulds there just new

 

[gotfish8]

Just change the bulbs. Keep it simple

 

[akrimmel]

i would raise it a little just to be safe

 

[Ti]

It's a good idea to either raise or screen it