New bulbs and things that happen...

[EricBrian]

Ok, so while talking to Rebecca, I realized that I need new bulbs for my MH lamps... The colors of my SPS were not so intense anymore and some where starting to turn brown.

 

So, I bought new bulbs and put them in. After a couple of days, they still didn't look too hot but I thought that that was still a result of the bulbs getting old. 2 days ago, I come home from work and most of my SPS were bleached. :(

 

I guess the new bulbs were too intense for the corals.

 

Lesson leared: Make sure you acclimate your corals to new lights/bulbs!

[YBeNormal]

Ouch, that hurts! You are correct though about aclimating to new bulbs and this is something that is often overlooked. Hopefully your corals will recover and end up looking better than ever.

 

Bob

[squiddly]

Ouch, that hurts! You are correct though about aclimating to new bulbs and this is something that is often overlooked. Hopefully your corals will recover and end up looking better than ever.

 

Bob

 

How does one acclimate one's corals to new bulbs? Thanks!

[Valeria]

No.

that was the best nano I've seen.

How are your clams?

[traveller7]

Lesson leared: Make sure you acclimate your corals to new lights/bulbs!

Most of my bulbs test out extremely high for the first 100hours of use. Definitely a good idea to increase the distance or shield the critters as the bulbs break in.

 

Sorry to hear about corals bad reacation, hopefully they recover quickly.

[YBeNormal]

 

How does one acclimate one's corals to new bulbs? Thanks!

 

For T5 setups, never change multiple bulbs at once. Change one, wait at least a couple of weeks, then change the next one.

 

Swapping between MH and T5 or an old and new fixture & bulbs: raise the new fixture high above the tank and lower it gradually over time or (better yet IMHO) use several layers of window screen material to filter the light. Leave the screen material in place for at least a week, remove one sheet, remove the next, etc.

 

Some folks skip all of the recommendations above and tell people to reduce the lighting period and gradually increase it over a period of days or weeks. This is like telling someone who has very pale skin to go to the beach on the brightest day of summer, with no sunscreen and recommending that they only stay out for two hours the first day. They will be burned within 15 minutes and the same thing happens to the corals. It's not the duration so much as the intensity that causes the damage.