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 sand

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!

30 gallon reef update 5/9/10

	60 Metal Halide Power Compact Aquarium Light 1072 watt $449.99

	Siphon -Cleaner Led coralife Metal Halide Power Compact $4.70

	24” Metal Halide Power Compact Aquarium Light 280 watt $219.99

	36” Metal Halide Power Compact Aquarium Light 342 watt $219.99

	30” Metal Halide Power Compact Aquarium Light 380 watt lighting fish tank $199.99

	Coleman Cable – Fluorescent Work Lights 18/2 Sjt Compact Fluorescent Work Light: 172-05930 – 18/2 sjt compact fluorescent work light 172-05930 Features: -Bulb Type: Fluorescent.-Cable Marking: SJT.-Cord : 15 ft.-Amps: 7.00 A.-Power Source: AC Network. Color/Finish: -Cord Color: Yellow. Specifications: -Bulb Cap.: 13 W.-Conductor Size 1: 18/2 AWG.-Voltage: 125.00 VAC….

	Double Aqualight 48 4x65watt Power Compact Strip $731.42 Coralife – 48″ DBL AQUALIGHT 65W PC STRIP.Aqualight Deluxe Series – Double Linear Strip **Note – a shipping surcharge applies to this item….

	Double Aqualight 36 96watt Power Compact Strip (Catalog Category: Aquarium / Lighting-compact Halide) $631.06 Double Aqualight 36 96watt Power Compact Strip. Coralife – 36 DBL AQUALIGHT 96W PC STRIPAqualight Deluxe Series Double Linear Strip…