Going LED to Halide/T5

[CheifReeferNB]

I am in the process of partially restarting a tank and as part of the change I want to switch from LED to halide and T5. I invested in a premium led setup which has been disappointing to this point. I don’t have confidence that the lights themself or the spectrum produced is optimal for coral growth.

That brings me to my main question. What would I need to do to switch to a halide/T5 hybrid setup?

I imagine that a sudden change like that would be stressful to the corals so if anyone has tips or experience with something similar please let me know.

 

[tbrown]

You'll want to mainly ensure the PAR levels don't spike or drop significantly. If the new Halide is significant brighter, you'll risk bleaching corals. If it's a little brighter, no big deal.

The other issue you may run into is a shift in color spectrum from the LEDs to halides (depending on which bulb you select) could cause some different effects with corals. Some might like it better or not like it at all.

Best bet, figure out approximately what spectrum you're running and match that, then start the halide higher above the tank and lower it to get the proper PAR readings.

Watch your corals closely and they'll tell you over a day or two wether they're liking the change or not.

T5s will be the same thing - spectrum and PAR. Those are usually the two main concerns with lighting changes.

 

[CheifReeferNB]

You'll want to mainly ensure the PAR levels don't spike or drop significantly. If the new Halide is significant brighter, you'll risk bleaching corals. If it's a little brighter, no big deal.

The other issue you may run into is a shift in color spectrum from the LEDs to halides (depending on which bulb you select) could cause some different effects with corals. Some might like it better or not like it at all.

Best bet, figure out approximately what spectrum you're running and match that, then start the halide higher above the tank and lower it to get the proper PAR readings.

Watch your corals closely and they'll tell you over a day or two wether they're liking the change or not.

T5s will be the same thing - spectrum and PAR. Those are usually the two main concerns with lighting changes.

The spectrum change is what concerns me most. I’d be going from a blue heavy to more natural spectrum. I don’t know how things would respond or if there’s a way to do it more slowly other than replacing some of the LEDs with T5s and then removing them all for halides eventually.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have metal halide and I buy corals from LFS’s and fellow hobbyists that have leds, 30 minutes after I buy them they are in my tank. My corals have always been fine. I usually acclimate new corals on the sand for a week or two before moving them to their forever spot.

I would suggest to start the MH at 4 or maybe 5 hours a day and slowly bump it up to what you want.

 

[tbrown]

The spectrum change is what concerns me most. I’d be going from a blue heavy to more natural spectrum. I don’t know how things would respond or if there’s a way to do it more slowly other than replacing some of the LEDs with T5s and then removing them all for halides eventually.

You can get a 14,000k or 20,000k on the halide or go heavy blues on the T5s also.

When I ran hybrids I went with 10,000k halides and actinic T5s.