new lighting a shock to plants??

[PaleoFishGirl]

So, I finally broke down and ordered some new lighting for my tank:

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=24057;category_id=1875;pcid1=1843;pcid2=

(thanks to Peter & Charlie for the tips btw & hooray for Big Al's Price Matching!).

Also, for those of you who are wondering from a previous thread, no my husband didn't buy it for Valentine's Day, actually he doesn't even know I ordered it yet  :twisted:

My question: right now I have about 0.5 WPG (yikes) over my tank.  When I switch to this new lighting, are my plants going to love it right away or will there be a shock (like when you put your indoor plants outside for the summer and they get 'sunburnt'??)??  Silly question I know, but I've just never had this much light before!  

[Toss]

Shorten the lenght of "on" time initially....like 6 hrs per day (guessing) then increase it slowly. I am afraid more with unsuspected algae growth than sunburn. My two cents

Enrico

[BigDaddy]

Hopefully, first off, you got the freshwater light and not the salt light...

Depending on which plants you have, they will react with differing levels of transplant shock.  My lace java fern completely died off right down to the rhizome.  Lost every leaf.  Thankfully now it's picked up again.

Going from .5 WPG to just over 2 isn't too bad.  Most plants would welcome the new light levels.

[PaleoFishGirl]

OK, BD, now you're scaring me...  

Isn't the Coralife 50/50 okay for FW tanks??

[mseguin]

You don't need actinic for a fw tank.

[babblefish1960]

Though you don't need actinic for freshwater per se, (is this not beneficial in some way?) I personally use actinic lights for moonlight over a portion of two large tanks, and the breeding fish always go there to raise the fry, as they seem to be able to see better to protect their charge from sneaky fish looking for live midnight snacks.

Moreover, there isn't the abrupt "lights out" shock, as I also use separate timers for every ballast, and it looks lovely too.

[Mettle]

But in this case it's a single 50/50 bulb. So one half can't be turned on/off at will.

[PaleoFishGirl]

Sigh.  Anyone want to buy a 50/50 or trade for the 6700K??