I am afraid my Sebae is starting to Bleach, but I thought I had good lighting.

[kenyacat]

Just upgraded from a 29 gallon to a 75 gallon (standard size- 20" High).

This was done on 6-14-08. All went well with the upgarde. No new livestock or live rock added.

The 29 gallon had 2 65 watt compact flouresent blulbs. One 10,000k and one actinic -- total of 130 watts.

The new light is an Aquactinics T5 Constellation 48". Holds seven 54watt T5 bulbs. Here is the break down of bulbs:

Front
ATI blue plus
UVL 75/25
UVL Super Actinic
ATI Aquablue
Blue Plus
Aquasun
Blue Plus

This is the breakdown recommended by Grim with higher par in the back and lower par in the front so I can put hard corals in the back and softies in the front. I have no idea what par these all are, and if I did it right.

Anyway, my Sebae was always up on a rock and near the upper half of the tank. When we moved it to the 75 gallon he was still attached to a rock but now down lower. Shortly after we moved him in he moved off of the rock and down into the sand in the front of the tank.

Lighting schedule is one hour of I think Bulb 3 and 5 and then 8 hours of all lights and then another hour of just 3 and 5. -- I think that is how it works out = not sure about which switch runs which lights but I think the middle switch is our dusk/dawn lights.

When we got the anemone a year ago he was bleached. He colored up to a nice tan while under the compact flourescents. Now within the last week or so, he seems to have a few areas that are lightening up. Now this could be my imagination as everything looks a bit lighter and different under this spectrum of light compared to what we had before, but I think he is lightening up a bit.

Any suggestions? Obviously the light has to stay. I spent way too much money on it.

Thanks,

 

[Amphiprion]

Cut down the photoperiod--I'd shoot for about 6 hours. Is there any way to raise the lights? It isn't terribly surprising for it to lighten up with such an upgrade. If you take the proper measures, it should do just fine--just take things slowly

 

[a4twenty]

i agree, to much light to fast can be a serious problem that effects the nem a lot faster than being kept under lesser than optimal conditions. try shortening the photo period or even decreasing the number of bulbs being run, slowly increasing them as time goes on. the anemone will acclimate to the new light, it just takes a little time.

 

[Slakker]

How does your water chemistry check out?

 

[kenyacat]

Oh, forgot to mention that I did not run the middle switch for the first 2 weeks so as to light acclimate the nem. Only ran switch 1 and 3 for the first two weeks then turned on the last switch.

Should I still cut back on lighting or turn a switch off? For how long do you think?

My other chemistry is good Ammonia 0, Nitrate 0, Ph 8.2 with normal fluctuations.

I have been increasing Calcium and Alk over the last month. Just got back from vacation (Came home once a day from camping just to check on fish and cat) so I do need to test my calcium and alk tonight to does Part A and B in the morning if needed. Calcium has been running around 400-420 and Alk last read at 2.63.

 

[a4twenty]

could you post a pic?

if you think he is still bleaching then yes, i would reduce the lighting. realistically two 65W PC's is no comparison to T5's. as mentioned you could just reduce the photo period if you don't want to run less bulbs.

 

[Slakker]

What about your salinity?

 

[kenyacat]

Just got done testing. Here they are:

Salinity 1.025
Alk 2.51
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 420
mag 1400

Now should I run the blueish ones (I think 3 and 5) for longer than the others? You know, the before and after full lighting.

I can knock the other two switches down to 6 hours beginning tomorrow. Already shut them down today, but I think it ended up being more than 6. So for the last switch - leave at 10 hours or knock that down too?

Then what? How slowly should I go back up?

 

[Slakker]

I'd go less than 6 hours on the daylight bulbs. If you don't already have one, pick up a timer.

Alternative would be to place several layers of window screening over the top of the tank and remove them slowly over the course of a couple of weeks.

 

[kenyacat]

Here is a picture under the PC lighting in the 29 cube

Here are two pictures in the 75 with just the 3 and 5 bulbs on. They are on a timer, so I can't get daylight pictures until tomorrow. But you can see in the back center and the right that the color is lighter.

 

[kenyacat]

The spectrum is different with the t5s. Even when he was just put in, he didn't look as tan as he did under the PCs

 

[Amphiprion]

I don't doubt that it looked lighter immediately, but that anemone definitely bleached. I can tell from looking at the difference from exposed vs. unexposed portions. Is there any way you can feed it fairly often? I recommend a fish-based meat, such as entire chopped silversides (i.e. all the parts).

 

[elegance coral]

From the way you describe it, it doesn't sound like the anemone is in trouble. Is it still eating and expanding as normal? The anemone will not be as dark as it was under the PC's, once it has made its adjustments to the new lights. A little fading is to be expected and just part of the natural process of adjusting to brighter lights.

It is very hard for us to tell the extent of the fading in those pics because of the change in spectrum. You are there in person, so if it is just slightly fading I wouldn't stress to much. If it is outright bleaching, or showing other signs of stress, then you need to take action.

 

[kenyacat]

He looked different immediately under the new lights minus the 2 bulbs that were not on. Can he bleach that fast?

I usually feed him a small piece of shrimp on Sundays. (about a teaspoon) I can increase that to 3 times a week for a while and reduce the lighting and see if both of those help.

How does that sound?

 

[kenyacat]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13082053#post13082053 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by elegance coral
From the way you describe it, it doesn't sound like the anemone is in trouble. Is it still eating and expanding as normal? The anemone will not be as dark as it was under the PC's, once it has made its adjustments to the new lights. A little fading is to be expected and just part of the natural process of adjusting to brighter lights.

He is eating normal. Not sure I understand what you mean by expanding. He acts normal, happy with his fish. I think he is still sticky last time I checked.

Is you opinion less light as well for a while and maybe some more food?

 

[elegance coral]

Do you still have the old lights? If so, can you temporarily place them over the anemone to see if it still looks like it did before the lighting change? It sounds like the change in the anemones appearance may simply be the spectrum of the new bulbs. Anemones don't typically spontaneously bleach.
When I asked about its expansion, I was talking about how large it gets. Before the change it would expand to a given size during the day. Does it still reach the same or similar size?
When changing lights, going slow is always a good idea. I'm also a firm believer in feeding anemones, so I don't see a problem with your plan.
As long as it is eating well, expanding well, and keeps its foot firmly planted, I wouldn't stress over a little fading in your situation. I just moved one of my LTA's from very low light to higher light. It faded some as I expected. He's still healthy as a horse though.