softies not acclimating to new lights?

[glarior]

I am having trouble getting my softies use to new lights.Any suggestions would be appreciated.
The softies have been going strong for 5-6 years with ChineseLED lights using 50/50 blue/white LED’s. They are on ~9 hours every day. Iguess the LED’s are 2w each and there are 50 LED’s per light unit which I amrunning two. I recently bought a AIHydra 52 to start phasing out the old LED’s. I set the AI light to acclimationmode for 2 weeks and uploaded light settings to the light. However, after a fewdays the softies would stay closed and not open. I turned on the old lights andturned off the Hydra all the softies went back to normal. I thought maybe thehydra was too much for them still and bought a prime to test out. Same thinghappened.
Not sure what to try to be able to switch the softies to thenew lights. Ideas?

[Mike]

Can you dial the new lights way down and gradually ramp it up?

[Zack]

Have you considered renting out the club par meter? It's free for charter members and I'm almost certain too much light is the cause of your issues. The hydra and prime put out a ton of focused light down into your aquarium that may be much more than the LED's/ lenses of your old black box.

[Zack]

When I switched from my old par bulbs to my old hydras I had to start at like 10% full power in acclimation mode.

[glarior]

Yes i can ramp the lights over time. Ive yet to comprehend the time and power for optimal results.

I did think about that today reading the par sticky. Who do I contact?

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[Zack]

Alton is then the member who handles the par meter rentals!

[alton]

Fill out the form found on the first post
http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?79088-PAR-METER-LOAN-PROGRAM
and email it to alton.vrana@iesci.net
or pm it to me alton
KL Wheat did this before making his transfer

[glarior]

I have come up with some interesting results using the PAR meter.

In the area that a single prime HD covers I had similar PAR numbers. I adjusted the light and it makes a difference. However, I did not adjust it to perfection. The Chinese LED lights are way lower numbers than I would have ever guessed. I for sure need to buy one more prime HD and see if I can acclimate the softies.

The 120g aquarium is a different story. I am contemplating attempting LPS/SPS corals again with this setup. I only have one hydra 52 on it currently and the results were interesting especially the shadows. I wonder how much higher the numbers would be if I had two lights going?

[glarior]

#
Chinese PAR
Prime HD PAR
Depth "


1
21
x
19


2
94
x
7.5


3
63
58
19


4
58
54
12.5


5
68
70
16.5


6
54
60
17


7
63
32
20.5


8
64
x
19


9
55
x
17


10
35
x
22.25


300g Tank with softies 28222

[glarior]

28223
120g Aquarium. Single Hydra 52 HD at full power and 60%



#

Full Power

60% Power

Depth "



1

170

130

13



2

200

130

14



3

203

140

18



4

185

124

13.75



5

75

63

18.5



6

51

30

17.25



7

44

26

19



8

30

16

16.25



9

44

16

16.25

[Zack]

The power he LED's are running at and lens angles of the LED's are probably the big difference. Those par numbers are pretty low on the Chinese led measurement.

[alton]

Too many times what looks great to the eye is not great for our corals. It is amazing how many members who borrow the meter find out they have hot spots and dead spots with there lighting. Some realize they need more and some have come back and said they turned their lighting down, that the PAR levels were much higher than they thought. The biggest benefit to the meter is once you have everything set, you can come back in six months and check to see if your lights have dropped in PAR values.

[klwheat]

Great to hear you were able to get some good info from the par meter. It worked great for me when moving tanks and upgrading lights. I'd have cooked my corals without it. Charter membership does have benefits! 😄


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