I'm totally out of my element with lighting and have read through several threads and ALOT of posts on here this afternoon. I'm on information overload and am more confused that when I started.
I have a 120g (48x24x24) mixed (mostly soft) reef tank currently lit with 2x250w MH and 2x VHOs. It's time to replace bulbs and I decided I would look at upgrading to LEDs after a little bit of ridicule about being so "old school" by my LFS. Long story short, I had looked a bit online and somewhat blindly determined that the Kessil AP700 was the right size for my tank, and then in a rush because of a discount that was going to expire, ordered the AP700 before doing the research I normally would have. Now that I've had time to dive into it a bit more, I need some advice from those of you that actually know something about lighting instead of just making ignorant and impulsive purchases. (I blame the Ambien.)
My questions:
1) My intention was to replace the MH/VHOs with the LEDs, but I'm reading about combinations of these to supplement one another. Is this combination necessary and advised? If so, how do I go about determining the appropriate combination?
2) I see that there is an acclimation period to adjust the corals to the new light and not burn / bleach them. I have a couple large finger leathers near the surface and most of the rest of the corals are pretty low in the tank. I'm assuming that these near the surface are going to have the greatest risk of damage from the new lights, so in order to start low enough not to endanger them, do I need to worry about those closer to the tank floor getting enough light?
3) What other considerations am I totally overlooking? Any feedback from those who have made a similar transition?
Thanks in advance.
I have a 120g (48x24x24) mixed (mostly soft) reef tank currently lit with 2x250w MH and 2x VHOs. It's time to replace bulbs and I decided I would look at upgrading to LEDs after a little bit of ridicule about being so "old school" by my LFS. Long story short, I had looked a bit online and somewhat blindly determined that the Kessil AP700 was the right size for my tank, and then in a rush because of a discount that was going to expire, ordered the AP700 before doing the research I normally would have. Now that I've had time to dive into it a bit more, I need some advice from those of you that actually know something about lighting instead of just making ignorant and impulsive purchases. (I blame the Ambien.)
My questions:
1) My intention was to replace the MH/VHOs with the LEDs, but I'm reading about combinations of these to supplement one another. Is this combination necessary and advised? If so, how do I go about determining the appropriate combination?
2) I see that there is an acclimation period to adjust the corals to the new light and not burn / bleach them. I have a couple large finger leathers near the surface and most of the rest of the corals are pretty low in the tank. I'm assuming that these near the surface are going to have the greatest risk of damage from the new lights, so in order to start low enough not to endanger them, do I need to worry about those closer to the tank floor getting enough light?
3) What other considerations am I totally overlooking? Any feedback from those who have made a similar transition?
Thanks in advance.
