MH and Light schedule and Acclimating to ?

[Harry_Y]

My New Hamilton Cebu Sun 3x 250 Watt MH/ 4x 80W T5 Light should be in Monday.
This will be going over a 180 Gallon Tank and replacing a Dimmable 8 tube T5 fixture.

As I understand it I should mount the light so the bottom is aprox 1 foot from the water (10 " minimum).

My thoughts as (correct me if I'm wrong) are to run the Four 80W T5 Actinic
for 12 hrs daily and the MH for a period in the middle for __ amount of hours.

How many Hours typically should I run the MH?

What is the proper way to acclimate the corals to the new MH Light?

Thank you

 

[jdraider75]

When I switched from 8 bulb sun power to a giesemann spectra. I ran same light schedule and hung fixture the same height. Unless you were dimming you bulbs all the time you should be fine.
For photo period I run 10 hours with 4 t5 bulbs and run my halides 5 hours in middle.
T5 is good anywhere from 8-12 hours and halides 4-8 hours. Watch your corals maybe start halides at 4-5 hours and over a couple weeks add 30 minutes a week until you are where you want to be. Unless bleaching then shorten.

 

[Harry_Y]

Thank you

 

[Ocean envy]

I use the legs, so the bottom of the fixture is 4 " from the water. When I ordered the legs from Hamilton they told me that a lot of people just rest the fixture on the tank directly on the tank, which would put the bulbs at about 5" off the water owning to the depth of the fixture. The closer you get the less light spill and more par you'll get, but with less spread.