Lighting update for those of you who helped...

[DrFish33]

I received my lights (Tek T5) almost three weeks ago and now I am writing to give my opinion. Here's the bulb combination I ended up with:
ATI 39W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent
ATI 39W 12000K Aquablue Special T5 HO Fluorescent
UVL 39W 10000K AquaSun T5 HO Fluorescent
UVL 39W Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent

I am currently running the blue bulbs for 11 hours per day. I am running the red color bulbs for 2 1/2 hours which I've built up to from 1 hour in hopes not to bleach my zoas and star polyps. I have noticed that the zoas and star polyps have increased in numbers by two or three polyps each since the addition of the lighting system. They seem to be doing well, but I am anxious to just let the red bulbs burn for longer during the day. Originally I was a little upset about the look of the massive lighting system sitting atop my tank, but I have grown accustomed to the look and I am okay with it for now. In the future I may look into building something to house the fixture if it will allow for the fixture to continue to be cooled efficiently. One of my main concerns when making the purchase involved my choice of bulbs. A few people around here chimed in with their opinions as did the fella at reefgeeks. I was afraid of the tank being too blue as I wanted things to look more natural. Now that I have seen everything set up I can understand why people enjoy a slightly bluer look to their aquarium as it really does make some of the colors of your fish and corals pop. In the end I am satisfied with the choices I made on the bulbs, and thusfar I would recommend buying the Tek fixture to my friends.

I want to thank everybody for all the help and guidance.

[DrFish33]

One question...should I continue the gradual change in lighting up to a full 9 or 10 hour day? Should it be as gradual as I'm making it? Right now I'm trying to increase it about an hour per week. Just seems like a long time to wait to run everything wide open.

[bwillcutt]

You might want to continue on the slow path, I am no light expert but I just swapped from pc's to t5's on the same time schedule and through some of my corals into a fit especially the shrooms.

[dobejazz]

I would say slow is better too - I just changed my PC bulbs and bleached my shrooms and really ticked off my toadstool since I din't aclimate them at all

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by DrFish33

One question...should I continue the gradual change in lighting up to a full 9 or 10 hour day? Should it be as gradual as I'm making it? Right now I'm trying to increase it about an hour per week. Just seems like a long time to wait to run everything wide open.

I'm really glad you like it!

The good news is the bulbs are cheap, so if you want to go bluer in the future you can buy a couple $20 bulbs and play with your color until you find something your happy with.

I always recommend slightly on the conservative side for big lighting upgrades, I don't see any problem with what your doing, but I think that moving it up one hour every 3 days would be safe too. As always watch the coral and make sure it's happy with what your doing.

Whiskey