Acclimation to new lighting

[KDFrosty]

I currently have a 55wx4 Jebo PC fixture. I just bought a 400w MH bulb/ballast kit, and would like to retrofit the MH into a canopy that I also recently acquired.
I'm not having any problems figuring out how to fit the light inside the canopy....what I'm worried about is shocking my corals.

Will a lighting change (220w PC changed to 400w MH + 110w PC Actinics) shock my corals? Is there an acclimation scheme I should follow?

BTW: It's a 50g (48x18x13) tank.

[NaH2O]

Wow! That's a lot of light to upgrade to. What are you keeping, and how high are the MH lights going to be off the water? It is definately a good idea to acclimate your corals to the new lighting. You can do this by either reducing the photoperiod significantly, or place layers of window screen over the tank. With the screening, cover the tank with eggcrate, and layer the window screen on it (at least 4 or 5 layers). Every week, remove a layer. With the photoperiod, reduce it to a couple of hours, and slowly increase the photoperiod weekly. It is definately a big jump in intensity, so take it slow.

Hope this helps

[KDFrosty]

Yup, that certainly clears up some stuff for me, and that's what I was expecting to hear. Just looking for different opinions. Thanks!!!!

[newtofish]

When I moved up from pc to MH, I kept my photo period the same for the pcs and added the MH. I started with 2 hours (11:00am to 1pm) Every week I added about an hour to hour and 1/2 to the photo period.
I do not believe anything was "shocked" all did well.
Good luck and congrats on your upgrade.

[Doctor_Reef]

Agree...It is like jumping from conventional power to Nuclear power....and you could leave the actinics on for a full photo period and run the MH for 2 hrs...and increase like suggested....

[maxwellwhothunk]

another thing you can do, that is much more controllable would be to buy something call Neutral Density filters from a theatrical supply store, it is a lighting 'gel' that is designed to block a specific amount of light, it is used for movies and stuff like that. The only problem is the fact that its more costly than window screens, but the window screen idea can create some hot spots, this will make a very even field of light.

-Max