Candy Canes and MH 150 Lighting

[chazotte]

I have a 3 year old candy cane that has about 200 heads on it...so I'm really hoping I didn't just kill it. I switched from PC lighting (65W) to a MH 150. The PC was 10K with 420 actinics. The MH is 14K.

Is it possible that this upgrade could harm the candy cane? It doesn't look 'bad', but it just doesn't look healthy.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Ken.

 

[panmanmatt]

With that big of an upgrade in lighting you will need to acclimate the corals to it over a period of a few weeks. One way to do it is to put a few layers (say 5 or 6) layers of fiberglass window screen between the lights and your tank. Every 3-4 days remove 1 layer of screen. Once all the screen is gone your corals should be acclimated to the more intense light.

Another method is to raise your lights about 2 feet off the tank and slowly lower them to where you want them. Raising them up will decrease their intensity on the corals.

 

[mr_X]

agreed on the screen method, but raising the light doesn't take much away from the corals. thin air doesn't work like the screen method does. i used a PAR meter and moved it away from the bulb and it didn't change much till i hit the water.

 

[Dave]

FWIW - I keep a candy cane under 150 MH, and it is doing great. (Lowest 3rd of the tank)

As already stated, the light acclimation is likely the cause.