Too much light for lps

[collegeman]

I thought i was having water quality problems and did test after test and everything checked out fine. I still conducted many water changes just because. I am now thinking my light might be too strong for my lps and softies. I have a 40 breeder with 2 150 watt metal halide bulbs. I had 2 14000k ushio bulbs but switched back to 2 20000k bulbs to lower the amount of par. I have 4 different types of hammer coral and they are all doing bad and my frogspawn is shrunken. I also have rbta and gbta that has not extended their tentacles. Do you think i have too much light? My 2 clams seem extremely happy along with the acans and a brain coral but they are on the sand bed. I will attach pics but my camera do not pick up the color good.

 

[collegeman]

gbta anemone

 

[collegeman]

My torch which is the highest coral in the tank seems to love the light. My leathers and shaded mushrooms are doing amazing. If you think this is too much light since my corals are not use to this much light what light fixture should i get?

 

[AGYDAL]

How do you test your SG and has it been calibrated recently?

 

[collegeman]

I check it with a refractometer and i calibrated it the other day to make sure that was not the problem. I am going to the lfs tomorrow to make sure calibration fluid is on point and that my test are not off. I never had a problem like this with my coral, even when i neglected my tank. The coral came from under 24 3 watt leds over a nano cube 28. They are now in teh 40 breeder with the 2 150 watt metal halide.

 

[buckster]

It looks to me like they are having a little trouble adjusting to the new light conditions. I would move them to the bottom of the tank to the lowest light area you have and gradually move them up closer to the MH slowly over the course of a few weeks. Most likely they are just a little shocked from the change in lighting.

 

[organism]

I have a 40 breeder with 2 150 watt metal halide bulbs. I had 2 14000k ushio bulbs but switched back to 2 20000k bulbs to lower the amount of par. I have 4 different types of hammer coral and they are all doing bad and my frogspawn is shrunken.

I don't understand when the corals started looking bad, did you switch the bulbs from old ones to new ones, or switch them to 20k's because the corals looked like they were getting too much light? How old were the old bulbs vs the new ones?

 

[collegeman]

Sorry, i should have clarified. I purchased the light fixture used with 2 20k bulbs that are 8 months old. I used those bulbs for about 6 days. I replaced them with 2 14k ushio and had those in 2 1/2 weeks. I switched back to the 8 month old 20k's 3 days ago. I looked at some pics i took of the coral and they started to look bad on the 22 of july and was getting worse until i switched back to the 20k's 3 days ago.

 

[organism]

Ah, gotcha. What were you using for lighting before those? Did you cut your photoperiod, lift the lights higher or put a screen over the top to acclimate everything to the new fixture?

 

[collegeman]

before this fixture i had all the coral in a nano cube 28 with 24 3 watt leds. I keep the light on now about 30min less than with the nano cube.
Organism do you think it is the light or could it be something else? After conducting many test and doing many water changes i ruled out water quality. some of my blue tip hairy mushrooms are also turning white and other mushrooms are shriveled up. I will purchase some screen tomorrow.

 

[buckster]

You say you did many tests and many water changes. When you tested what was your PO4, NO3, pH, Salinity?

 

[Patriot54]

I think they are still adjusting to the lights, you should move them down or shade them some how.

 

[buckster]

I think they are still adjusting to the lights, you should move them down or shade them some how.

I agree.

 

[arturlopez]

I also would try putting the corals down for two or three weeks and analise the results

 

[collegeman]

Salinity- 35ppts
NO3- 0
PO4 undetectable
Do you think egg crate/light diffuser will block enough light? Please let me know asap so i can pick up some today.

 

[organism]

before this fixture i had all the coral in a nano cube 28 with 24 3 watt leds. I keep the light on now about 30min less than with the nano cube.
Organism do you think it is the light or could it be something else? After conducting many test and doing many water changes i ruled out water quality. some of my blue tip hairy mushrooms are also turning white and other mushrooms are shriveled up. I will purchase some screen tomorrow.

It is for sure the light, raise it up a bit (or a lot) and put your light cycle at 4ish hours a day if not less. Since they've been shocked by light it's going to take them a bit to recover, mushrooms might end up detaching from the rocks since they've started bleaching

 

[collegeman]

I decided to downgrade my light since it was overkill. I purchased a 4 bulb nova extreme light fixture. 8 days of having thd light on my tank everything is doing much better. I got rid of my crocea clam but still have 1 maxima that i want to get rif of. I will like to thank everyone for the help.