Is my hammer bleaching?

[mitchrapp]

I've had this hammer in my tank for around 6 months, everything has been great, formed 2-3 new heads. I've been slowly increasing my light intensity 5% every 1-2 weeks and it is around 110 PAR at the sand bed right now (was 60-80 PAR) 4 weeks ago. All of a sudden over the span of 1-2 days the hammer's dark green and purple colors have gotten bright green and almost translucent purple. All other hammers and corals in the tank are fine, and some are higher on the rockwork and at higher PAR, so I don't know if this color change is normal or due to something else.

Previous color:

New color:

Other hammers in tank at higher PAR - the original color of the hammer was similar to these before it changed:

 

[madweazl]

Typically when they are starved for light they will get a more transparent appearance similar to your "new color" images. Even though the color will remain similar (for a period), they will have an opaque look to them when getting enough light.

 

[mitchrapp]

Oh, so not enough light? That would explain why the hammers at higher PAR are unaffected. I guess I'll move it higher and see if that makes a difference and continue to slowly increase the light intensity.

 

[organism]

It's definitely bleached, and if it was starved for light it would be opened really big instead of compact like that. imo moving it up is going to stress it, I'd put it in a cave or overhang to get less light for a while so it can recover.

 

[mitchrapp]

Wait, what? One says not enough light, one says bleached, too much light.

 

[organism]

One solution may be to check what the search function on here says about whether compact bleached corals need more light or less light... Then add whichever one of us was wrong to your ignore list so you can avoid getting bad advice a second time.