Metle hilide lights and TBS would like to have bolth and not kill off the TBS..

[norahs_dad]

I'm in the research prosses of setting up a reef tank and in looking at some tanks in person I really like the light waves that the M/H lights puts clear to the bottom of the tank. I have been looking in the diffrent sorses of live rock. The stuff I have been hearing on TBS live rock I like so far."reef frendly,lots of life and color" My worry is that I will buy rock with butiful color on it and sloyly wach it turn black and die under the light. Have any of you had good results with M/H and TBS. also any pics. with M/H and TBS would be apresated. The tank I am looking at is 28" deep top to buttom.
Glen

 

[ybenormal]

In my opinion and based upon my experiences, you will see some life wain and others thrive and multiply regardless of which type of lighting you choose, be it PC, T5 or MH. If you go with T5, MH or a combo unit, you will be able to add and keep other more light-demanding forms of coral though compared with PC lighting.

The issue really isn't so much what type of light, rather how you acclimate the tank to the new lighting and where you locate each type of coral in the tank. When you install T5 or MH lighting, cover the top of the tank with several layers of vinyl screen material (same as used for windows an screen doors and run a normal light cycle. Remove a layer of screen material every few days to a week. Raising the lights to a higher level or shortening the lighting interval is not sufficient and may result in bleeching of corals!

 

[heatdissipation]

Does the vinyl screen method work, as this is the first time I have ever heard of it, but common sense says that is a great idea. I most definitely am going to use them...

 

[ybenormal]

Absolutely! Think about your options when you go to the beach. You can go out bare skinned, and cut your exposure to 15 minutes (and still get a slight sunburn) or you can apply SPF-50 sunscreen and stay out for hours. The vinyl screen material does the same for your tank. It may appear darker than you would like at first but it will brighten up as you gradually remove the layers.

When switching over to T5s, you should also take care to move any low-light corals to a shady location. I wouldn't worry too much about the natural life on TBS rocks though. As I said earlier, some will die off while others will multiply or begin to grow rapidly. Funny how nature adapts to conditions!