lastlight's 97 (lights out)

[lastlight]

I've got a little sandbed don't tempt me. I'm sorta trying to take a break from going broke for a bit but we'll see =)

Few things I want MOAR of first are some LPS and maybe some anthias. Too small for anthias or what guys?

[Rbacchiega]

look at dispars, bartletts, ignitus, or even lyretails. These are all ones that I was looking at for the 75 gallon, so they'd be perfectly fine in your tank...just remember that they need lotsa feeding!

[lastlight]

Levi has a pair of squarespots for sale but I'm wondering if they're a bit too active for the tank? I have no regrets about the Kole though he seems very happy.

[lastlight]

I can see I need to do more than just turn the lights off 2 hrs early. A few pieces look a little ****ed about moar light. It's also been 2 weeks since a water change too so maybe it's just that. Was too busy and missed a week.

So normally my halide ran 1 - 8 and since upgrading I've just shut them off at 6. Keeping in mind I can't raise my lights and don't want to lay anything over the tank as a difuser what should I do?

Yesterday I forgot to shut them off so tank got 7 hrs. Today I changed my program to 1-3, 5-7, 8-9.still 5 hrs but with breaks. Not sure corals sense a difference or if it's just simple hrs and 5 hrs is still 5 hrs.

Advice anyone?

[lastlight]

After thinking about it more I set it to 1-3, 5-7 for now. It's twice the wattage so to be safe I *should* run them total 3.5 hrs for equal watts over a day. 4 is 8x250w hrs just a small bump from the original 7x250w hrs. I'll ramp an extra 1/2 hour per day each week until I'm at 7 hrs again.

Unless I'm way off. Just tell me.

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by lastlight

After thinking about it more I set it to 1-3, 5-7 for now. It's twice the wattage so to be safe I *should* run them total 3.5 hrs for equal watts over a day. 4 is 8x250w hrs just a small bump from the original 7x250w hrs. I'll ramp an extra 1/2 hour per day each week until I'm at 7 hrs again.

Unless I'm way off. Just tell me.

I was always under the impression it was the intensity of the light... not the time. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.... but if you are standing in the closet and then someone opens the door real fast BANG the intensity of the light gets yah. Would this not be the same with turning a brighter light on... regardless of how long or how you stagger the timers?

[lastlight]

Tony might be able to chime in here I'm not sure. He's stepped out of a closet a few times and might have some details regarding his recovery.

[Delphinus]

You are doubling the intensity or at least the wattage (I'm not sure if 2*wattage = 2*intensity, but nonetheless it's a jump no matter what the relationship is specifically) so an adjustment period is to be expected. The best way to acclimate to a new intensity is to ramp it, which could involve either raising the lights (which I know you said wouldn't work, but still, I mention it because it's there). Another option is using layers of eggcrate that you remove one by one a couple days apart.

And then my personal preference which is just to keep the photoperiod but go in bursts. Let's say your photoperiod is 10am to 10pm. You keep the endpoints the same but you adjust the timer to do 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off. Then 30 on, 30 off, then 45 on, 15 off and then finally all the way on the whole time. A couple days apart between adjustments.

Or you can hope to heck that the corals just pout a bit but eventually recover. Which could work sometimes but I imagine it's the riskiest approach.

[Delphinus]

Coming out of the closet. Nice!