Bleached hammer or not enough light?

[warfanax]

I have this neon green hammer head for 2 weeks now and 2 days ago I increased the the intensity of my lights for a day. I am running DIY LED fixture with 8RB and 8 NW with dimmable drivers over 10g. I ran royal blues and whites high( whites were higher) for a day. The next day I went out of city and my timers didn't kick in and they were in dark until 10pm. I noticed last night, in dark, under blue light it doesn't glow as much as before.

Before it had super bright neon green colour on it's tips and tentacles under royal blue but now it seems the bright green colour on it's tentacles are faded. Its not much but compared to 2 days ago its a big difference. It seems little brownish.

My question is, is this because too much light or less light? What should I do to recover their colours?

 

[Psirex]

they will recover on their own over time. Bleaching happens pretty quick but takes time to recover from... I would turn down the lights for awhile then slowly bring them back up....

 

[warfanax]

they will recover on their own over time. Bleaching happens pretty quick but takes time to recover from... I would turn down the lights for awhile then slowly bring them back up....

so it is bleaching not insufficient light?

 

[ihavtats29]

bleaching can be from a number of things not just lighting issues . nitrates, phosphates, too much light, ph swings, alk swings, temp swings, salinity swings, over dosing can all lead to bleaching of the coral check your water perimeters , cut back on your lighting and slowly bring them up slowly over a few weeks time.

 

[warfanax]

If its bleaching what should I do? should I give low light 10h a day as usual? or regular light with less photo period such as 3-4 hours a day?

how do you treat a bleached coral?

Btw, I fed the coral with mysis shrimp and blood worms mix but few hours later it spat a ball of food (looks undigested, I can still see the pieces of worms) from it's mouth. Is this normal?

 

[birdman1979]

I do not have experience with LED's but from research I have done, my understanding is that they are very bright. Even though they may look dim, they put out a substantial amount of PAR. Many LPS species to include Euphyllia come from fairly deep water and will bleach easily if not shaded. I have experimented a lot with different lighting intensities and have found that even at only a couple hours per day, intense lighting can bleach lps. My recommendation would be to lower your light intensity significantly until your corals re-gain coloration. At that point you can up the intensity very slowly. You may be surprised how much growth you can achieve with lower light levels provided water parameters are spot on. Especially if you are feeding your LPS.

 

[Cptn Spaulding]

What wattage are those LEDs? If those are your classic 3w that are in many DIY fixtures that is almost equivalent to having a 250 MH if you're using 60 degree optics. Over a 10 gallon, that is a LOT of light. LEDs pack a punch. If they are dimmable I suggest dimming them until the coral is used to your light, then slowly raising the PAR until at a desired level. I have seen polyps 'live' under 2 very spaced apart white LEDs without optics.

 

[warfanax]

yes they are 3w LEDs. I have 2 dimmers so I can dim both whites and blues. I am running them both below %50 now. I don't have any optics on them since I put the fixture on the canopy which is around 2 inches above the tank.

 

[warfanax]

I do not have experience with LED's but from research I have done, my understanding is that they are very bright. Even though they may look dim, they put out a substantial amount of PAR. Many LPS species to include Euphyllia come from fairly deep water and will bleach easily if not shaded. I have experimented a lot with different lighting intensities and have found that even at only a couple hours per day, intense lighting can bleach lps. My recommendation would be to lower your light intensity significantly until your corals re-gain coloration. At that point you can up the intensity very slowly. You may be surprised how much growth you can achieve with lower light levels provided water parameters are spot on. Especially if you are feeding your LPS.

I am trying to feed but I can't see that its eating. I am putting food closer to their mouths and wait few minutes until they cover it with their tentacles but nothing visible. I turn on the powerhead and watch it to make sure the food doesn't get blown away. I think it takes hours for them to eat so when I come back an hour or so later I see the food is gone. I don't know if it eats it or just the current blows the food away.

 

[warfanax]

bump