Will my corals stress out if I install new lights?

This weekend I will be installing 2 new 250w metal halides and two 96w Actinic power compacts on my 125 reef tank. (upgrading from 2- 48 inch 50/50 daylights 2- 36 inch actinics.)

I cannot seem to find any info online about corals and new lighting so my question is ,should I move all my corals to the bottom of the tank so they can adjust to the new lights? I just dont want to stres them too much or even kill them..

I have a large cabbage coral,yellow polyps,frilly mushrooms,striped mushrooms,button polyps torch coral, frogspawn, xenia,and a sabea anenome,

2 percula clowns, 3 striped damsel,domino, yellow tailed blue damsel, chocolate chip starfish,globe sea urchin, 2 peppermint schrimp,

120 lbs live rock, 100lbs live sandWill my corals stress out if I install new lights?
Hey nice choice of animals! I got a very similar selection in one of my LPS tanks.



The answer is most definitely YES! Particulaly with the switch to halides. You are increasing the available light DRAMATICALLY. What light-temp are the hallides by the way?



The big increase in Actinic output is probably not such a big issue, as, contrary to popular belief, corals don't actually benefit from Actinics THAT much. Actinic light is a representation of sunlight at a greater depth than what your coral species usually live anyway. But they sure make 'em look prettier!



The bigger concern is switching from a couple of flouros to a couple of halides - thats a big jump! Particularly when most of your corals are not necessarily that big on light anyway, in fact some of them prefer lower lighting conditions.

It would be a different story if you had sps corals - they would love you for the change!



The sudden switch won't kill any of the stock you have but it will certainly stress them for a while (and there is nothing scarier than having your corals all close up for a week or so!).



My suggestion would be instead of moving all the corals to the bottom (they will only stress again when you move them back), just use one actinic and one hallide for a week or 2. Then gradually start using the 2nd hallide during the middle of the day, the other actinic later at night. The reason I suggest this is not only because of the dramatic increase of light output, its also because the hallides are probably rated at a different light-temp (K) to your current flouros.



But its a great move up! You can prob even start experimenting with sps frags with that lighting!



Best of luck!Will my corals stress out if I install new lights?
No they won't stress. You have to remember in the wild, corals can go for weeks with little direct sun like approaching storms and hurricanes. Then the sun is out as bright as ever. When it comes to the lighting, they are very flexable. you don't have to move them at all.



You have a urchin in the tank? he hasn't attacked the coral or the starfish?



I would not move the coral.Will my corals stress out if I install new lights?
Well they souldnt stress out as long as you get the right lights, with your kind of coral you need blue and white lights and a dull blue light. But if you get the wrong sort of lights, they will die :( Other than that its good rock and lighting. I love your selection of rock and fish.

GOOD LUCK~~~!