one of *those* questions... can too much light cause SPS bleaching?

[jacksonpt]

My undata is at the bottom and is partially shaded by a monti cap. The shaded portion has better color, so I'd put my money on too much light in this case.

Cool, thanks.

 

[teamdulski]

Problem has been solved but just to chime in..certainly too much light. Whenever I have been snorkeling the very first monti colonies I see are usually 30-40 feet deep where most other commonly kept species of acro and porites are 1-10 feet down.

 

[Henry Colf]

May I ask what the solution was? I would have suggested raising the alkalinity.I also beleive that some phosphate is good for sps to little will cause them to go pastel in color. I have the montipora in my tank at around 500 par and they love it. JMO...

 

[tmz]

Hmm, He has a 4 hour schedule on his single T5 daylight bulb . Mu undata does well up high under halides. Maybe it will grow faster and do even better lower. Yes , too much light can cause them to bleach but 3 actinicT5s with one on only 4 hours and a one daylight bulb on only 4 hours doesn't sound like a lot to me. The alk is low and I'd work on that. What about NO3?

 

[jacksonpt]

Just wanted to update folks since you were all so helpful...

I moved the undata back down to the sand bed and tried to get it shaded a bit by my frogspawn. That was 2 weeks ago. Since them I've been seeing VERY slow but definite color improvement.

Water params haven't changed that much... alk is better with fewer water changes (new water has really low alk levels), but still something I fight with on a weekly basis.

 

[tmz]

Thanks for the update. I'm going to move mine down. t's doing ok but maybe it will do better.
Just didn't seem like you had tons of light on it to start with but as it's doing better withe less then obviusly the light was and issue.