Softies and light requirements

[primo21]

I have a colt coral that has been slumped over for a couple weeks now, yellows and green polyps not opening all the way. not sure what the cause is. tried moving them to more/less flow and no effect. wondering if my lighting is wrong. PCs probably need replacing, guy i got the fixture from (2 mos ago) had them "about" a year.

Tank - 75g w/ 90lbs live rock, skimmer
Stock - 5 asst damsels, snowflake eel, 2 engineer gobies, blue spot grouper
Coral - xenia, few shrooms, colt, yellow polyps, green button polyps, ricordia
Parameters
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - ~5ppm
Calcium - 480

Lighting - 220w VHO (10000K, 12000K) 135w PC (50/50)


Any thoughts on light being the culprit or anything else???

 

[Laurier]

Could be lighting. I would start there. hows your salinity/ flow

 

[primo21]

salinity is 1.025 and have decent flow. the branches of the colt are swaying, but the stalk is drooped over. is there not enough light or too much?

 

[Curious George]

IMHO there is enough light for a colt. How is everything else doing? I find Colts and Leathers to be "funny" doing strange things even for extended periods of time only to perk up randomly. As long as I don't see decaying tissue (not just sloughing), I assume everything is ok. Do you have pictures of the tank and Colt?

 

[primo21]

the colt is slumped over (has a faint green glow under moonlights) and have some yellow and green polyps that just dont seem to be opening all the way. i am still pretty new to coral but this seems like it would indicate too much light??? like they are closing up to shade themselves. but on the other hand, nothing seems to be growing. i have some xenia that everyone says grows like weeds, but i dont see any growth (got them in april). an orange ric that i got the same time that has a second mouth but hasnt split (not sure if is supposed to).

 

[ati70cutlass]

i agree lighting is subpar for this coral

 

[primo21]

how much more is needed?

 

[primo21]

I have another ballast to run 2x35w that is just sitting unused. will an addt'l 70w make much difference. i was thinking about putting daylight in the pc and running actinics on the unused ballast, but will need to mod my canopy first. was wondering what to put in the pc to get the biggest bang for my buck, if it will make a difference.

current light is: 220w VHO (10000K, 12000K) 135w PC (50/50)

 

[APBonds]

I have 4 96w pc on my 125g and it is plenty of light for softies. If your bulbs are old I would change them ,they only last about a year, also if you can keep them cooler with extra fans they tend to last longer ime.
Xena does like a little bit dirtier water, if your water is to clean try feeding phytoplankton.

Tank info 125g tank, 30g sump, Octopus 2000 skimmer, 9w uv filter, phosphate reactor, 3 units chemipure, 800w ti heater, 1 950gph main pump, 1 200gph filter pump, in sump refuge with macro, 1 850gph circulation power head,1 750gph circulaation power head, 2 10,000k 96w pc bulbs,2 96w 460nm antic pc bulbs.

1 powder blue tang, 1 christmas wrasse, 2 black clowns, 1 blue hanna goby,1 manderin goby, 1 scissor tale damsel, 1 firefish goby, 1 royal gramma.
1 arrow crabs, 2 skunk cleaner shrimp,1 fire shrimp, 10 turbo snails, 10 blue leg hurmits.
1 RBTA, 1 lobo brain, zoa's, palys, xenia, white pom pom xenia, green finger leather, metalic green star polyps, pink star poylps, 1 toadstool, mushrooms.

 

[ati70cutlass]

i would say that a total of 4 vho would be fine, three of them sunlight one actinic. i had this same setup over a 75 and it grew like wild fire