Aussie War Coral Bleaching/Losing Color

[TheDean]

I have a nice softball sized war coral at the bottom of my tank (21inch depth), barebottom, under 8x39Watt T5's. I got it without bright coloration, then it progressed nicely, and in the last week it lightened quite a bit, almost to a pastel color. It is not shaded by aby means, but the lighting switch from 4x39 to 8x39 happened early last week. Could this most likely be from extra lighting too fast(has not changed location) or perhaps a high mag issue (i run between 1350 and 1400 respectively, with a calcium level of 480-500ppm, and Alk at 9-9.5dkH).

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

1700 is high mag, 1400 is pretty much normal. The problem is that most test kits read high, so you may have low mag. Your Ca is high, but not terribly.

Corals take time to adjust sometimes.

 

[Prince916]

Its your light. Im guessing your coral was not properly acclimated to the new lighting.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Yeah, but you put it on the bottom which is the best you could do. My war coral was getting tons of PAR for a long time, it'll color back up and be fine in a month or two.

Ron

 

[TheDean]

Its your light. Im guessing your coral was not properly acclimated to the new lighting.

That was the original assessment. I did raise the light about five inches higher than the four bulb, but eight bulbs is a lot more than I expected. I was thinking my caps woul,d bleach, but they only enriched in color. I'll try some shade for a bit, or like Ron suggested, leave it alone and let it sort things out itself.

 

[Arowana1902]

My war coral is having the same problem, which is way stranger since its been where it currently is for months without problems. I actually have 2 aussie reds in the tank, and the one that is closer to the light doesn't show this problem, so i actually moved it up closer to the light yesterday. I may have been too late. Its symptoms are very pale coloration and possible detachment of outermost exterior.