how much light is to much

bigrift

my current light setup is just about to die so befor it dose im gunna get a new one. atm i have all soft corals sutch as hairy mushrooms regular mushroom corals zoas and a leather coral. i have a standard 55g long tank with a 5 inch sand bed. curently i have only 1 10k 54w t5 bulb running as its the only spot that will turn on. i wana upgrade to Odyssea Metal Halide System or Odyssea 48 inch Metal Halide Fixture 2x250W HQI + 4x54W T5 +6xDual LED . im leaning more twords the 716w as id like to start keeping sps but i know that the 608 should be enough. ok so what do you guys think and im aware my softies will shrivel for a bit while they adjust to the more light. im planning on placeing the order by monday so anything feedback will be considerd =)

badxgillen

so your gonna go from a 54 watt T5 to 600+watts hetal halides???..you will suffer from lighting shock,tissue retracting,and possible bleaching..i would at the least start fo not usuing the halides just the T-5s..then running the halides for a set number of hours gradualy bringing it up to your standard photoperiod.

bigrift

yeah i was planning to do just that. i know i cant just throw on all the lights and have it work lol. my worry is that the softies wont aclimate to that high of a light wattage even with proper aclimation.

badxgillen

i suppose it depends on the coral..most will not ...many of the true green and yellow sarcophytons will adapt..and some sinularia..i have a couple lobophytons under a halide as well but it is not nearly as open as the others i have under T-5 or PCs.well i suppose from the sounds of it you are gonna find out..

Abby Steel

Just a light in which you may easily see your fish.Because it has been proved that fast light create phobia and stress in fish and species.Whatever the source of light is but there should be no more fast lights.

Reefing Madness

One question though. What size tank are these going over? 4 Watts per gallon on the low end of lighting. I would think 10watt per gallon would keep you in the green with anything you wanted. More, and I would say your wasting your money onthe energy. If you going that high, ever thought of using LED's?

bigrift

well i allready got the light system i went with the 604 watt and its on a 55g tank. tomarrow im planning on building a canopy for the tank and raise the lights 2 feet from the top of the tank.

Reefing Madness

WOW. Welp, if that don't do ya, nothing will.