Light acclimation for sps

[greg1786]

Hey guys and girls. I have a 125 gal sps dominated mixed reef. Until recently I was only running a 4x54 watt t5 ho current usa nova extreme over the tank. About three weeks ago I added another fixture, 4x54 watt t5 ho aquaticlife fixture in addition to the nova. I started out running the nova on its normal light schedule and running the actinics for two hrs on the aquaticlife and the daylights for one hour. Every week ive increased each set by one hour. I am currently up to three hours for the daylights and four hours for the actinics and some of my sps are starting to burn and bleach. A few ate mino but my ponspe nirds nest,blue humilis, pink monti digi, and green monti cap are bleaching pretty bad. Ive moved these four down to the sandbed but havent cut the lighting sched back because I just added a maxima clam. I thought that by going slowly with the light increase i wouldnt have an issue like this. Should I ramp up even slower or just keep moving the more light sensitive things down further? How long will it take for the bleached corals to regain color? They still extend their polyps pretty good and still have color in the areas not directly exposed to the light. In attempting to heal the bleached coral, is the right move putting them in a lower lit area of the tank. Never had this happen, thanks in advance for your help. -Greg

 

[dowtish]

When I went from a 4 bulb to a 6 bulb, I did not experience bleaching, but it took at least 4 months for everything to acclimate to the new intensity. That was just 2 more additional bulbs.

I would stay at 3 hours of daylight for 3 weeks and then try 4 hours for 3 weeks and so on. Very slow....

 

[shih87]

I have a same size SPS tank (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2308288) like yours. The difference is I started with 400W x2 HQI for months than added 54W x4 T5 in once and then added another 54W x4 T5 two months later. I did not experience bleach, but it will take up to months that some SPS stop extend polyp when light on, but only when light off. I usually use the observation of polyp extend when light off as an indicator if I add too much light suddenly. While you add lights, do your KH and PH remain stable? Light sometime indirectly affect your SPS but direct change tank parameters. Just my two cents.

 

[greg1786]

Ok thanks guys ill hold where im at for a couple more weeks before going any longer