T5 causing bleaching on LPS?

C

christian1966

Member
My torch and frogspawn have bleached significantly since I acquired them about 2 months ago. The only thing I can think that caused this was my T5 lighting. I got them from a tank that had 250W MH + actinics. If they were showing good colors under MHs then I would have thought it would do well under T5s as well. Anyone have similiar experience with T5s and bleaching corals?

Oh my water parameters:

SG = 1.026
PH = 8.2
Calcium 440
Alk = 8
Nitrate 15
Temp = 82
 
- The Kelvin rating of the bulbs make a difference. An actinic bulb (20k) generally does not give off as much PAR (radiation) as 10k.
- Of course, placement of the coral in the tank, high or low, makes a difference.
- The distance from the bulbs to the water surface also makes a difference.
- Lighting acclimation procedure makes a difference.

Any of these could cause coral bleaching.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7938424#post7938424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by christian1966
Thanks. Guess it's time to sell my T5s and go with MHs.
Click to expand...

Well that might be a little drastic.

Acclimation is obviously important. If you feel that you are doing things 'right' and getting poor results - and you have had success with MH and the same corals previously I couldn't blame you for making the switch.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7938515#post7938515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by impur
How did you go about acclimating them?
Click to expand...

I got them from a LFS that uses 250k MH bulbs + PCs. They kept the lights on for 10 hours. I keep my T5s on for 8 hours. Didn't really think about acclimation. Guess that may have caused the bleaching?
 
Last edited:
Mothra, yeah I know it's a bit drastic to switch lights, but if others are having bleaching with T5s too then I'm willing to make the change. It's a shame to see all my beautiful LPS bleaching. I have a nano with a 150 MH and none of the corals are bleaching there. I'm sure with more research and experimenting with different bulbs I may have better results but I really don't have the time or inclination to do so. Going try to see if MHs will bring back the color. Wish me luck.:rollface:
 
I had severe bleaching with my T5's on all my corals. I lost a couple of chalices but everything else has recovered. I blame myself and not the lights. The lights are great and i am getting amazing growth now. Acclimation is the key, nice and slow. Dont run all the bulbs at first, maybe half and then a month later the rest. You will not be disappointed when the corals are used to them.
 
The corals have been in my tank for close to 2 months. Shouldn't they be acclimated by now or do I ned to turn off a couple of bulbs? My current configuration is 2 B+, 1 AB, 1 6500k.
 
Ill bet money the 6500k is the culprit.I recently did a major makeover with my bulb selection and no kidding I think I've finnally found the perfect combo. The growth and color of ALL my corals are becoming just awesome.

I had the same problem with frogspawn.First I had too much white spectrum and poor efficiency with the setup I was using, then I used the GE and the 10k's along next to it proved still to just the wrong spectrum like Jacob talked about, Im one of those guys who think there's still alot of T5 bulbs that just havent got it right.

So, anyway heres what my winning combo is for my SPS and LPS tank.
Front to back
blue+(D&D ATI)
15k(D&D Geismann)
URI superactinic
15k(D&D Geismann)
True actinic(D&D Geismann)
blue+(D&D ATI)

My frogspawns are gorgeous right now, theres still some coral that I do shade like some acans and echinophyllia, but even some different morphs of those do like direct light.
The results your seeing can happen in any system regardless of T5 or MH, light acclimation is a very real thing and shouldnt be overlooked, especially with how much PAR there capable of.
Buying a couple bulbs is sure alot cheaper than getting another unit up and running. Just my take on things.

-Justin
 
also you might want to take a look at your phosphate levels. sometimes high phosphates can cause bleaching and is not often tested for. and this leaves many reefers with a bleached coral and no clue whats causing it. just another angle to look at.
 
Justin - thanks for the suggestion, I'll try different bulbs. How would this look:

B+
15k
Actinic
B+

I'm worried that it would look too blue for my taste. How is coral growth with the 15k?


xdusty- I checked my phosphate levels and they are close to 0. My nitrates however are @ 20ppm. Thanks for the tip, didn't realize phosphates can cause bleaching.

Lessons learned: acclimation includes lighting. Glad to have such helpful people here on RC. Thanks!
 
Was this a gradual thing over the 2 months or pretty much within the first few days.

If this is a gradual thing and not really bleaching, I had similiar results over a 12+ month period where LPS would lighten over time. Not loose color necessarily but lighten in color. I have also seen others locally that use T5 and there LPS corals show similiar results. While I can't say if this is because they are bright, certain peak of spectrum is too much for them, too long of lighting period or what exactly but I did switch back to VHOs on my LPS show tank because of this and now have a little darker more richer colors on the corals like they once were. I was overdriving on Icecap and primarily using Aquablue bulbs with VHO actinics. But a local friend with a coral business uses T5s not overdriven and I have seen simliar lightening of corals in his frag tanks as well ( but they are also shallow tanks ). I have a frag/holding tank now that is not overdriven, less #of bulbs and using the UVL bulbs ( 3 T5s on a 75g ) instead of ATI hoping for better results with LPS but it has only been 6 weeks but so far so good.
 
David,

I experienced the same thing, a long term lightening. I think more people are starting to see this now because they have been running T5's for a year or more.

That is essentially why I started my blog, to share my experience and hopefully get some feedback from others. My guess in this case is the corals may have been stressed from the lighting change, I don't know if 2 months is long enough for the whole 'T5 lightening' to set in.
 
David,

The lightening was gradual over 2 months. Interesting that my mushrooms/rics and zoos are doing fine. The colors look great. My LPS and monti caps however have become significantly lighter.

Don't think I mentioned it earlier but I run my lights for 9 hours/day.
 
I would suggest run 2 bulbs for about 10 hrs and then the other two for about 4 hours.
E.G.
2 blue plus from 2pm - midnight
2 aquablue from 5pm - 9pm
Once you see the colors returning like it did for me you can increase your daylight bulbs slowly for longer period of time.
 
I'll give that a try. I will need to get another bulb as I have 2 B+, 1 AB, 1 6500k. Any suggestions on what to replace my 6500K with? I don't want it to be too blue. I kinda like the look with the 6500k in there but willing to make the change if it will bring back the colors in my corals.
 
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