LIGHTING/EXPOSURE TIME QUESTIONS

[Wes]

i would lower your exposure time significantly. new bulbs even if at a different kelvin and the new reflectors will likely cook your corals in no time. if you do 8 hours id drop it to say 2, give it a week and go 3, another then 4, and so on. probably a bit overkill but not worth the risk imo.

 

[melev]

Wes is exactly right. Somewhere on this site, I documented the PAR measurements between spider and lumenbright reflectors, and it is truly over 300% brighter. When I measured the light in the Toadstool leather with my former lighting, it was 145 PAR. With the new reflector it measured 444 PAR. That was a massive increase all of a sudden.

What I did with my lighting is:

Week 1 - 2 hours per reflector
Week 2 - 2.5 hours per reflector
Week 3 - 3 hours per reflector
Week 4 - 3.5 hours per reflector
Week 5 - 4 hours per reflector
Week 6 - 4.5 hours per reflector
Week 7 - 5 hours per reflector
Week 8 - 5.5 hours per reflector
Week 9 until now - 6 hours per reflector

Now the first week of only getting 2 hours per reflector, I ran the first one from 1pm to 3pm, the second one from 3pm to 5pm and the third one from 5pm to 7 pm. This gave me 6 hours a day to look at my tank. Then as the times increased, I gradually overlapped them somewhat and here's what my tank's staggered lighting looks like:

http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.php/120-Staggered-Lighting-why

 

[melev]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Wes]

@acat1976 wrote:

the 210 is still new, all 20+ sps corals are just frags...you can see a full tank/stand pic here - gallery/image_page.php?album_id=87&image_id=223

 

[melev]

@acat1976 wrote:

Yes, you can. Mine run all day long, from 11am to 10pm. Then I have the LED moonlights on from 10pm to 11pm.