how should i upgrade..

Have it on for an hour then every coupld days increase it by 30 minutes.

It is kind of like getting a base tan when summer comes around. You go out for a little bit at a time to work your way up.
 
Don't feel bad, BJ, so do I... in fact, I get a sunburn just walking from my car to my building (maybe a block) at work...when it's overcast...

Are the new actinics close in wattage to your old ones?
 
from 830 to 830.. both actinic and daytimes at the same time... unless im there to unscrew the daytime around 7pm then screw it in again at like 930-10am the next day.
 
im upgrading everything haha... im beefing up my nano for a frag tank and getting a 55 at the end of summer. im considering making the 55 a predator tank tho to cut back on lighting costs. and i can always upgrade it to a reef tank like my original plan.
 
from 830 to 830.. both actinic and daytimes at the same time... unless im there to unscrew the daytime around 7pm then screw it in again at like 930-10am the next day.

If it were me, and you replace the halides and t5's at the same time, I'd cut the halides down to 1 hr/ day and gradually increase the amount they're on (as someone previously suggested)... for the t5's, I'd cut their time down to 6 hrs/day and slowly increase it. Remember that even though there isn't a huge wattage difference between the old t5s and your new ones, the new bulbs are much stronger than old ones.

If you don't want to do it this way, you can also get window screen material or eggcrate sheets, and stack them several deep on top of the tank. Then every few days or once a week, remove one of the screens or eggcrate. this will slowly acclimate things to the new lights.
 
yea i know that new bulbs even in the same system can shock them... but im buying the system slightly used and my bulbs are frankly probly stronger and newer at this point. but that sced sounds good ill try that.
 
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