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When changing to a different lighting source,
some changes that corals may exhibit are often mistaken as improved
health signs and this often occurs with LPS corals from the
Caryophylliid family. They may show signs of swelling and
exaggerated polyp extension where in fact they are increasing their
surface size to gather more light. This can occur in systems with
insufficient light for the corals needs so ensure that you carefully
choose the proper lighting system for your corals needs. The best way to
measure stony coral growth is by calcification or skeleton growth.
Under proper lighting, corals will usually have a dense rich color and
not over exaggerated polyp extension. There are several ways to photoacclimate your
coral; the easiest way is with systems that incorporate dimming
technology such as our Nilus Pendant. With the Nilus
you can start with the photoperiod you desire but with 20% intensity.
Each day the intensity can be increased by 5% until you reach your
desired output which will generally be 100%. This final setting
will all depend on the types of corals you are keeping. Most reef
aquarists will use full intensity and locate their corals in the system
relative to their light requirements. If using our PR156 which includes two
programmable digital timers. The photoperiod programmed will
depend on the depth of your system. In aquariums that 18 inches or
less in depth, a 30 minute on and 30 minute off program is a good choice
to start with. Systems deeper than 18 inches but not over 24
inches can start with 45 minutes on and 15 minutes off. The timers can then be programmed daily to
increase on time by 5 minutes lowering off time by 5 minutes until your
desired goal is reached. Both of the above suggestions are desirable
if you are working or away from home for extended periods of time. Without timers or the capability of dimming,
you can photoacclimate by the use of various sizes of inexpensive
fiberglass window screen. Cut the window screen a little larger
than your tank size and secure to the tank with appropriate tape or use
of aquarium magnets. Start with a fine screen such as the screen
used on storm doors and allow three or four days before changing to the
next coarser screen size using the same time period. After the
acclimation is completed with three different screen sizes of increasing
coarseness, your corals should be photoacclimated. Some aquarists
may find the above method undesirable or cumbersome, or if all the
screen sizes are not available in your area. If so, you can
manually duplicate the PR156 method. Another method which applies only if you are
going to suspend your lighting above the aquarium is that you can raise
the pendant to lower the intensity of light entering the aquarium and
gradually lower the pendant every two days. If using the Nilus, PR156, or one of the DIF
pendants, the lens or lenses can be removed to lower the PAR value.
Care must be taken here to ensure there is no salt water spray that can
get into the LEDs or multichip. Whether photoacclimation is necessary will
all depend on the previous lighting technology used. Aquarists
switching from metal halide to a high PAR/PUR LED system such as
Orphek’s, a photoacclimation period may not be necessary. During the photo acclimation period it is
recommended that calcium and dKH levels be monitored as the increase in
PAR/PUR levels may cause an increase of biological activity. This article is provided by James Gasta
(sales-3@orphek.com ) who is
employed by Orphek LED and generates blogs and articles for the Orphek
website, www.orphek.com .
James also volunteers his time as a crew member for wet web media
(crew@wetwebmedia.com ).
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