Need Help Acclimating Sinularia to Metal Halides

[kmc]

I got a finger sinularia coral on Tuesday from an online vendor. It looked great right out of the bag -- beatiful neon green polyps were all extended. I read in Eric Borneman's book that sinularia are adaptable to most lighting schemes (Note: my lights and other equipment are listed under "current tanks" below). On the first day, I made the mistake of placing the sinularia about halfway up my 24" high tank, dead center -- I did not, however, run my metal halides (except for a quick test later in the evening, as explained below). Running only 2 T-5's (which are located about 20" above the tank), the sinularia seemed very comfortable. Polyps remained fully extended and it branched out a little more. After the coral had been in the tank for about 8 hours, I turned the mh lights on just to see how the coral would react (not a good idea, I know). Once the mh's came on (about 14" above the tank, eggcrate cover), it retracted all of its polyps and shrank a little. I turned the mh's off immediately and moved the sinularia to the substrate in a corner where it would get the least intense light. After an hour or so, the polyps came back out. The next day (yesterday), I left the sinularia in the corner spot, but set my mh's to come on for 2 hours in the evening. When I got home from work, the mh's were on, and all of the polyps on the sinularia were retracted. Again, I turned the mh's off. I'm a bit perplexed now about what to do. Unless I put the sinularia in a completely shaded area under an overhang, there's nowhere in the tank where it will get less light than where it currently is. Should I leave it on the substrate and just continue to slowly run my mh's for a little more time each day, hoping it will adjust? The problem is that I have a number of light-loving corals that need the mh's, so I don't want to continue without the mh's for too long. Any thoughts?

Here's a pic of the coral taken by the vendor:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=67907&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

[Hobster]

You can try the several pieces of fiberglass window screen method. If you don't want to cover your other corals make some type 3 sided tent out of egg crate and cover that with screen. use wire ties to hold together. kinda like a sun umbrella.:D

[onefin]

Hi, i would put it on the substrate and just continue to slowly run my mh's for a little more time each day, good luck.

[worldwidereef]

I have one as well and just upgraded to MH I used 6 layers of screen, taking two off a week. My sinularia is on the bottom and doing great.

[kmc]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess third day was the charm. The polyps remained extended tonight for the full two hours that the halides were on. I'll just continue to lengthen the amount of time that I run the halides each day, and eventually try to move it off the bottom.