Upgrading from PC to T5 in Frag Tank?

[budsreef]

Last week I swapped out my 20L frag tank for a 30G Breeder and this week I'm swapping out the Orbit PC fixture with a Nova Extreme T5. Frags are mostly mushrooms and softies with a few candy canes and just a couple of sps. Do I need to acclimate them to the new light? The Orbit consists of two dual 65W, actinic and daylight, bulbs and the Nova Extreme consists of 4 39W, 2-actinic and 2-10000K, bulbs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wbholwell]

Do the bulbs in the Nova Extreme fixture have individual reflectors? If so, I think the T5 fixture will yield almost twice as much light (PAR). Acclimating the corals to the new light is probably a good idea, either by raising the new fixture up somehow (preferred), or by reducing the amount of time it is on each day.

 

[mufret]

Another option to acclimating corals to new lighting is to pick up some of the nylon screen material (can be found at Lowes or HD). Put 2 to 3 layers over the tank and then remove a layer every few days.