From 150MH to 250MH

[NewSchool04]

Tomorrow the new lights go on, switching from my 150 Coralife hang on to a 250watt Reef Optix III and Bluewave III ballast. Both lights have Phoenix 14K bulbs.

This is a pendant on my 30 gallon mostly SPS cube. I tried the light out tonight for a couple of hours and it is brighter, def. brighter. I plan on starting out at 12" from bulb to water height and lowering an inch a week. Am I being overly cautious? I had the 150's at 6".

 

[jmcmahon66]

You are not being overly cautious. Last year I moved from 150W to 250W and experienced significant bleaching with several coral deaths. I used window screen (obviously not enough), and reduced photoperiod. By the time I realized it, the damage was done. Do yourself a favor, and go very slow. Good luck. HTH

 

[NewSchool04]

did you raise them jmcmahon66 to start with or did you just use the screen to block the light? Do you remember how high you had them?

 

[MacnReef]

Another thing to consider. You are getting a much better reflector so say you were sticking to a 150 but getting the ROII for it, I would still say start at 12" and work your way down. Since you are also upgrading, its a must to do what you are thinking.

Mike

 

[jmcmahon66]

Unfortunately I could not raise the lights, and my setup has them about 6 inches above the water line. I put the window screens on top of the tank, and had about 3 layers of screening material. I removed one layer every 2 days. I also had a reduced photoperiod of 4 hours for 2 weeks. I began to notice bleaching within the first week. If I remember correctly, my temperature also jumped a degree or more which also probably contributed to the problem.

 

[NewSchool04]

I'm going to reduce the photoperiod as well I think. I'm hoping the 12" above the tank will eliminate the intensity to an acceptable degree and cut back two hours on the time for the first week.
I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about this after my test last night. You can't even compare the old light to this one.

 

[beeker]

remove one layer of screen a week....i went from XM 175w 15k bulb to an iwaski 14k and used 5 layers of screen and removed one every5-7 days depending on how the corals looked and how they were adapting to it.

 

[NewSchool04]

I'm not using screen.