too much light for softies

[jfulmer04]

I have a 220 that is lite by 8-80 watt t5 overdriven on icecap 660 ballast and got to thinking i might be baking my softies. The bulbs i have are 4 blue plus, 1 actinic, 2 aquablue specials and 1 pro color, the color is a little to white for me. Im going to get new bulbs this month do you think i should get more actinic to cut down on the par or just leave the leathers alone. The finger leathers are doing fine its the sinularias, toadstools and a rare mumps green leather that dont open all the time. I got a the toadstool and the mumps leather a month ago and they both have been open for 3 days total.

 

[Intothedarkdeep]

I keep a few softies high up in my tank and they are under 2x 250w. I don't think you have too much light.

 

[Intothedarkdeep]

Picture of my sinularia being blasted with light, its less than 2" under the water and directly under the light.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

We had a local reefer bleach a good portion of his SPS with overdriven 80w T5s. There is absolutely no need for them unless you have a VERY deep tank.

I would swap out your ballast and see if things improve.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Hey intothedarkdeep, just as an aside, how much flow are you giving your Sinularia? Mine seems unhappy no matter where I place it in the tank. I'd be surprised if it's aleopathy, since it's one of the most noxious itself.

I also just killed a large hydroid colony that was around the base, but it still seems a bit annoyed. Any thoughts?

 

[SFeST]

I run about half of that lighting over my 100 gallon and I have softies up top without problems. I also keep SPS without problems too. You have a lot of light for softies, but I don't think it's too much. You might have a different problem at hand for corals not opening. Did you acclimate them to your lighting?

 

[proenca]

I've had a tank full of softies under 3x250w and NO problems whatsoever.

Make sure you acclimate them to the light but they are light hungry, dont worry !