First SPS coral. Is this bleaching?

[apavlik2]

This is my first sps coral and am somewhat new to reef keeping. This coral has been in the tank for just a few days with a clown, cardinal, royal gramma, fire shrimp, long spine urchin, feather duster and 2 bumblebee snails. Ph 7.9, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 15 (working on gradually lowering), phosphates just enough to be detected on test, calcium 460. I’m wondering if this is bleaching on the tips of corals or something else. It had this when I purchased but seems to have spread further down slightly over the last days. This is in a 10 gallon tank feeding mysis shrimp and started adding phytoplankton. I have a Seaoura sr657 light on top of tank with all spectrum running for 6 hours at 30% and blue at 80% for another 6 hours. I’m not sure if I’m bleaching them or something else is going on? Any help is appreciated.

 

[griss]

Looks like a montipora Digitata. What lighting was it under at the store and what lighting do you have? It appears your lighting is more intense than the store and its bleaching from lack of lighting acclimation.

 

[apavlik2]

Thank you for the reply. It looked like blue light in the tank I got it from. Should I maybe just leave my lights on blue and decrease the brightness down from 80% while it’s adjusting? Right now it’s 6 hours white/all spectrum at 30% brightness and 6 hours blue at 80% ramping between. I know I gotta invest in a better more customizable light.

 

[griss]

Well, blue light can mean a lot of things. It would help to know what wattage the store's lights were and what percent they were running them at compared to what you have.

Without that info, you can do one of two things IMO. Move the coral lower in the tank temporarily and slowly move it up over a month or so. Or, you could dial back the intensity of your light and slowly ramp it up over a month or so.

I would not change to all blue at this point because, if you like the way your light looks, you will need to coral to acclimate to that eventually.