New Bulbs...acclimation?

[minibowmatt]

I ordered a pair of XM 10K bulbs to replace my 15k's.. I hate the lack of par on the 15K, and they were too blue with my actinics.
Now you may remember I bleached my prop tank changing bulbs in Aug. So I want to be sure I am ok this time.

How do you acclimate your tank to new bulbs? Screen, Raising the bulb height or some other way?
I have a pendant and I was planning on raising it about 14" off the water and lowering it a couple links every week. Do you think that will be suffucient?

Edit:
I guess I should add my tank is mainly zoas and LPS, with just a couple Monti's. I am also running these bulbs on advanced M57 ballasts.

 

[surfn]

the xm10's will give a slightly yellow cast to the lights after they run a while, esspecially on magnetic ballasts.

if things are going to burn, they will do it within the first hour the bulb is on anyways. so the best method is to use screens, and use multiple layers, then take one layer off every week or two.

 

[twon8]

15k to 10k xm is a real bump up in par, i would be very careful, lps likely won't be happy

 

[gflat65]

I do screening and less photoperiod, but I have only acclimated a huge jump in par over an SPS tank (175W 12k to 250W DE 10K AB's-I took about 5 weeks to bring the photoperiod back up and still burned a few, but then the 250W AB 10K's will burn just about anything, given the chance).

 

[minibowmatt]

Thanx for the responses. I am having trouble getting one of the bulbs to light, so I cant install them yet. I think I will do all three suggestions, Raise the light, Add screening, and reduce the photoperiod.

as for the bulb, it wont fire in any of 3 fixtures, and the other bulb will only fire in two fixtures.. any ideas? Or is it just a bad bulb?

Coralnutz- The fish room is done. Some of my drywall joints cracked as the weather went cold, but otherwise, great. It is so relaxing to sit and stare at my tank all night.

 

[surfn]

did you unplug the ballast from the wall, and the socket w/ the power turned off? then put them back together and try again?

i know my HQI ballast won't fire sometimes and i have to do that. only happened once though when i changed sockets.

apparently, (even if the power is off), they recomend you unplug the ballast from the wall and the socket before changing any wiring or changing sockets.

 

[minibowmatt]

Yeah I did. My ballasts dont have on/off switches. I tried my one bulb that wouldnt light in a third fixture and after a few Spark>Glow>Out cycles it did light . I think my one ballast isnt putting out enough voltage to ignite the bulb? I dont understand how this is possible? maybe a bad capacitor? I am going to switch out that ballast tonight and see if that helps.

 

[Raptor]

the xm10's will give a slightly yellow cast to the lights after they run a while, esspecially on magnetic ballasts.
QUOTE]

I never seen a yellow cast from mine, I have been using 10k's for over 2 years.
I have used basically all the must have 10k's and XM's are the best for price, and color. A nice crisp white on a mag ballast. I run 400 watters though.
Never any 250's so that may play a role, but my 10k xm's are white not yellow.
I lower the photo period, and slowly raise it up every 4 days about 1/2 hr.

 

[minibowmatt]

I switched out the one ballast this weekend, and got both bulbs firing. I have raised my light up to about 13" above the water, and added eggcrate and 2 layers of screen. It seems to be good. It is a lot dimmer in the tank than it was with the 15k's.. like a nice cloudy day in the ocean. I will remove one screen on friday, and maybe even lower the light a bit.

 

[minibowmatt]

week one is done. I lowered the light about 2 inches and took off one layer of screen. Everything is looking good, except my BTA, and some polyps are reaching for light..

 

[AngieN.]

I switched from 96w PC to 250w hqi about a year ago and just used about 5 layers of screen. I remove a layer every 3-5 days and everything stayed happy.

 

[msman825]

I switched from 96w PC to 250w hqi about a year ago and just used about 5 layers of screen. I remove a layer every 3-5 days and everything stayed happy.

. wow thats a big swap, I bet it changed the look.

 

[AngieN.]

. wow thats a big swap, I bet it changed the look.

It really did - somewhere I thought I posted some before and after pics, I'll have to see if I can find them again.

 

[minibowmatt]

the only thing that hasnt been the same since my bulb change is my green poylp
toadstool? He closes up for the normal skin sloughing, but this has been a week now. he popped out for just a few minuets while I was feeding the tank cyclopeeze on thursday nite, but thats it? You think he isnt liking the new spectrum or par?

 

[minibowmatt]

I dont like them!
These 10K bulbs are too white/yellow for my tastes. I am gonna go back to my 15K's. Anybody want a pair of 10K 175W bulbs?

 

[surfn]

I dont like them!
These 10K bulbs are too white/yellow for my tastes. I am gonna go back to my 15K's. Anybody want a pair of 10K 175W bulbs?

if you are running on magnetic ballasts, i'd suggest getting the XM20k's. they are brighter than the 15k's, along with better PAR (if you subscribe to that mumbo jumbo). they run as a nice crisp light blue on magnetics. give great color to corals.

 

[minibowmatt]

thanx Al.
My biggest concern was the 15k were too blue (with 150W VHO Actinic), and the 10k were too yellow. My red zoos looked brown. I was thinking of using the 15K with 1VHO Actinic and 1 VHO super white. That should lighten the tank up, but still give me good color, right?
I think the 20k would be too blue also. As for PAR, I know the 15k is low on par, but it is still better than the hamilton 14k. I am not too worried about PAR as my tank is only 17" deep.

 

[surfn]

well, if you can do without the VHO (save some electricity), i would go with the XM20k's.

i'm not a big fan of VHO's, so can't really tell you how they will look.

 

[AVALover5498]

How is the colors on the 14K hamiltons? I'm looking for something not to blue so i can run actinics. Did your 10K's make things brown? I'm going to swap out my 10K for one. I have a 175W Electronic ballast though.



-Chris-

 

[dc_909]

I am running the Iwasaki 15k and they are a crisp white