hey can anyone tell me what to do when adding a new type of lighting? i went from a pc light that was 260 watts to 500 watts 20k mh i have a 55 gal should i just get a bigger tank or is there a way cause it seems that i fried some of my corals i moved them and they are doing better but i would really like to use the mh lights?
how to from pc to mh
- Thread starter cowdust9
- Start date
Bigger tank!
Like atticus said - shorten the lighting period to acclimate them and you may have corals that you need to move lower in the tank.
500w on a 55 is quite a bit of light, and you may find certain corals don't like it at all.
I had 500w mh + 260w pc on a 75 and certain corals, i.e. shrooms, didn't like the light if they were towards the top of the tank.
People have suggested in the past starting with an hour per day and increasing by an hour every several days.
Like atticus said - shorten the lighting period to acclimate them and you may have corals that you need to move lower in the tank.
500w on a 55 is quite a bit of light, and you may find certain corals don't like it at all.
I had 500w mh + 260w pc on a 75 and certain corals, i.e. shrooms, didn't like the light if they were towards the top of the tank.
People have suggested in the past starting with an hour per day and increasing by an hour every several days.
I've been using 500 watts on my 55 for about a year now with no side affects. I run them about 14 inches from the water line. Use 14k bulbs. I moved from T-5s to MH. Started out with 4 hours per day and increased it by an hour every other day. Now I run them 8 hours a day. Heat is the only problem I deal with but if the a/c is on in the house, I don't have any issues. Oh, and I don't use any type of canopy. Stoneys are high in the tank, with softies mid to lower portion.
