Preparing for Halides

[wickeddroptop]

I currently have 4-65 watt pc's on my 55. I have on the way a 175 watt MH retro set up that I am going to add into the hood and keep 2 of the PC's. With the higher intensity of lighting from the Halide, I am scared that the xenia that is close to the top of the tank will not be too happy. Even worse, that huge Toadstool. The problem is, both of these are attached to one very large piece of Tonga branch that is standing almost straight up. Should I just bust these off the rock and move them to a lower corner of the tank, or as long as I acclimate the lights slowly will they be ok? I will also be adding in the near future some SPS and LPS and have heard that mixing these close together will cause some chemical warfare? So basically if anyone can give me some advice on how to organize my tank for the future, it would be appreciated.

[Wiskey]

I know xenia doesn't mind tons of light, and neither do most leathers.

It's really just a question of acclimation, most of these corals in the wild live in very shallow tide pools in direct sun.

Whiskey

[jenajet]

You can acclimate two ways:
lower your photoperiod time and gradually increase the number of hours per day or
use several layers of window screen and remove a layer each week.
Are the mh going on a different switch than the pc's? If so just start out running the mh 5 hrs a day and gradually increase the number of hours on.

I was worried how my corals would acclimate after letting my mh get to old but after a few 8 hr days I went back to the full 12 and no one seemed to mind. However non of my corals are high up in this particular tank.