New MH bulb-My coral's hate it

[Ramses66]

I put a new 150 watt 14K bulb in my clamp on that is on my 24 jbj. My corals hate it, will not open up. Any advice on replacing new bulbs???

 

[daaznmofo]

did you acclimate the corals to the new bulb?

 

[Ramses66]

No. I thought if I replaced the exact wattage and spectrum bulb it would not be a problem.

 

[gparr]

When you replace old bulbs, you should always go through an acclimation process. New bulbs are brighter and have a different spectrum than old, worn out bulbs. That's why you're replacing them. They're worn out and not delivering sufficient light. If you don't acclimate your corals, you risk light shock. Shorten up your light cycle considerably and slowly increase the amount of time lights are on over the next two to three weeks until you get back to your regular cycle. It sounds like you've shocked your corals to some degree. Back off on your cycle to maybe two or three hours a day for a few days to give the corals a chance to recover. Be patient.
Gary

 

[Ramses66]

Thanks Gary. Thanks make a whole lot of sense.

 

[Hypertek99]

Yeah they may need to adjust to the light.

 

[RaysReef]

Another suggestion is that you could increase the height of the light during the 2-3 wk adjustment.

 

[dbarker]

What Gary said!

 

[ahayes13]

+1 you should def. always acclimate your corals to new lighting. personally i think not only would i shorten my light cycle but i would also move up the light height.

 

[Ramses66]

So far so good. I'm running the light 4 hours a day and ramping the time up. I got a peice of eggcrate acroos the top for shade. 1 hour on and 1 hour off. I'll start to increase the time on gradually

 

[xrayrider]

I found a way around aclimating to new lights. I got a ballast with a dimmer switch. I borrow our local reef clubs PAR meter. Check PAR of old bulbs. Install new ones, and set dimmer to match PAR of old bulbs. Gradually over time increase brightness to desired level. As bulbs age, keep increasing brightness until at maximum brightness.

 

[EliteReefs]

I found a way around aclimating to new lights. I got a ballast with a dimmer switch. I borrow our local reef clubs PAR meter. Check PAR of old bulbs. Install new ones, and set dimmer to match PAR of old bulbs. Gradually over time increase brightness to desired level. As bulbs age, keep increasing brightness until at maximum brightness.

sounds like acclimation do me. a different way to do it but not a way around it

 

[smiley28]

Sifting through old threads and thought this one is a good example of dealing with light acclimation pre led take over. I think newer reefers need to see things like this to clear up the notion that acclimation to light is now a big thing only due to technology advancement.

 

[reefwiser]

Pre Led take over.:)
All lighting requires accumulation