Upgrade in lighting upset fish/Coral?

[Tim Plow]

Hello...I am new to this site and was wondering if someone can give me some pointers. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

I have recently bought a 200 gallon aquarium from a friend. It was a fish only tank before so it only had standard fluorescent lighting. I had a reef tank before and wanted to upgrade the lighting for the new 200 gallon to make it a reef tank also. I went ahead and went big and got 3 - 400 watt halides with 4 - 96 watt PC actinic in my new fixture. I plan on setting the new fixture up tonight and turning them on in the morning.

I was wondering what problems this could cause besides the issues with heat? Will my fish freak out with all this new light? Will any of my corals have problems (I currenly have LPS and softies)?

I have the following fish:

Naso Tang
Yellow Tank
Flame Angel
Pygmy Angel
Two percula clown
Flame Hawk
Longnose Hawk
Purple Pseudochromis
Cleaner Wrasse
Midas Blenny
Fire Shrimp
Coral Banded Shrimp
condy anenome
I think I got them all.

Again, thanks in advance for your help.

Tim

 

[boilermaker1]

The incredible increase in light power will probably irritate your corals.
Its probably a good idea to only turn on the halides for a short time, and you may also want to put some screen or egg crate or both over the tank too to shield some of the light out... gradually increasing the photo period and removing screen as time goes on.

 

[bllfish]

The light could cause the corals to freak out. Start out with short lighting periods and gradually increase the amount of time the lights are on. You can also use some screen to diffuse the light. lay several sheets of fiberglass screen you use in you house screens and remove some each week. Depending on the corals you keep, most should acclimate in a month or so. The lps and softies will be most affected. Start them all at the bottom of the tank. Any shrooms should probably be put in a shaded area. You really do not need that much light for lps & softies though sps would love the light.

 

[hyeteck]

i was in the same situation and started off by only having the halides on for 4 hours a day and moving it up an hour every week. Now i run the halides for 8 hours and didn't have any problems at all

 

[bllfish]

boilermaker1 - wow do we think the same? Almost looks like a double post