I recently switched over to LED lamps and my corals have bleached/retracted extensively. Do corals bleach/retract due to over lighting (or underlighting?). Is there anything that I can do to improve their health? I can't change the lighting rig...and it has already been three weeks with the new lights...
Corals Retracting/Bleaching
- Thread starter Khai
- Start date
Yes, this happens often times when corals are exposed to new lighting.
When acclimating corals to new lights, you shouldn't run them right away on the full schedule. You should run your new lights 2 hours the first day, 4 hours the second day, 6 hours on the third day, and so on until you reach your full hourly schedule which should be a 10 or 12 hour schedule. After that you can run a regular schedule.
By the way, do you have SPS, LPS, or both? Right now since your corals are bleached, you can dose Iodide to try to get that zoax back. I recommend Kents Iodide. I dose 8 drops per 50 gallons. I have a 55 gallon reef so I dose 8 drops everyday and my corals are in great color
When acclimating corals to new lights, you shouldn't run them right away on the full schedule. You should run your new lights 2 hours the first day, 4 hours the second day, 6 hours on the third day, and so on until you reach your full hourly schedule which should be a 10 or 12 hour schedule. After that you can run a regular schedule.
By the way, do you have SPS, LPS, or both? Right now since your corals are bleached, you can dose Iodide to try to get that zoax back. I recommend Kents Iodide. I dose 8 drops per 50 gallons. I have a 55 gallon reef so I dose 8 drops everyday and my corals are in great color
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ANGRY JOHN
New member
one thing you might try is if your new lights have lenses, you can remove them to start with to defocus the light. This way you can run a little longer at first and let them aclimate without nuking them. I dont have led's but just a thought.
T Diddy
Happy to be here
as previously mentioned, let your corals adjust to the new lights in increments of intensity or duration. If you run the LED at full power, take them from a couple of hours to the full daylight schedule over the course of weeks. You can go ahead and run the full daylight schedule now, just be sure and turn the LEDs WAY down and gradually increase their output over the course of weeks.
tkeracer619
New member
I would cut the lights back to at least half of what your doing now and extend the light period slowly over the next month.
Never dose anything you can't test for. Most of the trace elements you need are taken care of by water changes.
Never dose anything you can't test for. Most of the trace elements you need are taken care of by water changes.
