Too much light???

[JAustin]

Sounds like you're taking the correct steps. If you can run your skimmer air inlet line outside, that will bump up your PH to 8+ for sure. Also throttle back on the Mag a little. The 1500 is not bad but try to target 1280-1320 or 3xcal.

I agree with the others that it's not too much light but it is important to allow the corals time to get used to the new lighting. I have a 400w XM 20K over my 60g cube and my SPS are high up in the tank and love the light.

Another thing that comes with light is flow. You need good flow across the SPS to keep them cool and provide food/take away waste. Even thought your tank temp is 80, the corals might be 84+ if there isn't enought flow to cool them down. There are some neat studies on PAR vs Flow, it suggests that the more PAR you have the more flow you need to maintain coral health.

Anyway, get a good P04 test kit like Hach or a Hana meter. Don't skimp out on any of them. If your not already you may want to run some GFO (start with 1/4 dose and ramp up over several months to a full recomended dose).

My bet is you have alot of P04 or not enough flow. Stick with it, the colors WILL come back and then some!

Happy Reefing!
Jason

 

[blennymower]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15732729#post15732729 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JAustin
Sounds like you're taking the correct steps. If you can run your skimmer air inlet line outside, that will bump up your PH to 8+ for sure. Also throttle back on the Mag a little. The 1500 is not bad but try to target 1280-1320 or 3xcal.

I agree with the others that it's not too much light but it is important to allow the corals time to get used to the new lighting. I have a 400w XM 20K over my 60g cube and my SPS are high up in the tank and love the light.

Another thing that comes with light is flow. You need good flow across the SPS to keep them cool and provide food/take away waste. Even thought your tank temp is 80, the corals might be 84+ if there isn't enought flow to cool them down. There are some neat studies on PAR vs Flow, it suggests that the more PAR you have the more flow you need to maintain coral health.

Anyway, get a good P04 test kit like Hach or a Hana meter. Don't skimp out on any of them. If your not already you may want to run some GFO (start with 1/4 dose and ramp up over several months to a full recomended dose).

My bet is you have alot of P04 or not enough flow. Stick with it, the colors WILL come back and then some!

Happy Reefing!
Jason

I have an external skimmer so I assume my air inlet is as you suggest?

I think my flow is good, but what might be good for me might not be good for you...

I have a 75 gallon, 1000 gph return, korallia 3 (850 gph), and vortec mp20. Good flow for sps?

 

[MCCOOL]

Thats enough flow assuming it's positioned well. You want the polyps to sway in the current every second or two.

 

[JAustin]

That's not bad for fllow at all. I've got a 400 gph returne on a scwd and a mp40 in a 24" cube.

What I mean by the skimmer air inlet is can you run a longer air line outside? The line that the skimmer pump uses to suck air into, run that line outside and in outside your house. Your ph is low because of the Co2 in your house i would guess. I had the same problem.......since i ran my skimmer line outside my ph never falls below 8.

As your sps grow you're going too want more flow, like two mp40s or another K4 with what you already have. You can upgrade your mp20 to the 40 by changing the driver.

can you post pics?

 

[blennymower]

This is a green acropora. It still has some green (at this point the corals have stopped losing color) but as you can see it has browned.

This is a blue millepora. Browned out.

and an orange digitata. Looks bleached but it's not. The polyps still have a light red color and have been like that now for a while.


Mind you, all three of these frags have grown and always have extended polyps.

 

[blennymower]

You can see some of their original color in my red house.

 

[blennymower]

bump

 

[blennymower]

Does the loss of color have anything to do with one side of the tank being lit for 5 hours and not the other and then vice versa?

 

[DT's_Reef]

I had problems with frags losing color and bleaching slowly, over a week+ time frame and found that my photo period wasn't long enough (was 4-5 hours, then increased it to 9), and my tank was too nutrient poor (not enough nitrogen).

I fed more, used phoshate remover, increased the photo period and my corals colored back up fairly quickly and began to grow.

The issue of "too much light" can be due to acclimation issues, or not getting enough nutrients. The intense light tells the coral to "do something fast", and if the nutrients aren't there to support the process, bad things happen.