UV Damage from broken bulb?

[ReeferMac]

A few days ago I hear a suspicious "POP" come from the basement.
W/ 2 youngin's and a dog in the house, you don't immediately jump at those sounds, but a few hours later I was near the tank, and noticed the fish a little on edge. Sure enough, the outer quartz sleeve on one of my (relatively) new Hamilton 20,000K 400W lamps on HQI ballast had broken. Glass in the tank, all over the corals, my Tang's got a cut lip now...

So, I swap the bulb, and get all the glass out I can find. Finding glass for 2 days, but I think I have it all (or most of it). Couple of corals up near the top of the water burned up right away, that night. The next day, there were several that looked pretty bad (some monti's). My Stylo colony up top kicked it last night, but oddly - frags I took off the lower branches and set lower in the tank (or on the other side), are doing just fine? {shrug}

So it's been 4-5 days now I think? The monti's are still looking pretty poor, but they haven't RTN'd off yet. I was surprised it took the stylo so long to die. I figured once it made it past a few days, it would have been OK.

Based on experiences with the outer-glass being compromised in MH bulbs....

- How long after the incident should I still expect corals to die off?
- How likely are damaged corals to recover at this stage? In other words, if it ain't dead yet....
- Anything I can do to help them? Fragging?

Anything a foot below the water seems like it was OK, but I'm nervous about my SeaFan and a Clam that are near the bottom. The rest of the corals (w/ one excpetion, a pulsing Sinularia on the sandbed), I can replace, so I'm not too concerned, but I'd rather not lose them nonetheless.
Thanks for the input.

- Mac

 

[clkwrk]

I feel for you . The other day my PBT in my 90 splashed my de pendant and shattered the sheild. I don't know how long it was broken for .But I did notice latter that that side was alot brighter but all corals were out even those that were 2 inches below the water line.

The only damage I notice was my xenia is now white but still pulsing . Everything eles on that side is out and doing well with no damage visable to any of them so far. Even my hydno shows no damage.

Which is weird IMO because a long time ago I remeber pulling the sheild off my 44g which has a 150hqi and with in seconds everything was closing up . That was to confirm the uv thing.

 

[Feerlaroc]

Not to hijack, but I have a brand new 400w HQI bulb that is cracked all the way around the perimeter of the outer glass. I have a UV shield between my bulbs & tank & I was wondering if I could still run the bulb ? It's a new tank that will just have a few small frags in it eventually. Or should I not risk it ? I only ask because these bulbs are soooo expensive.

 

[ReeferMac]

Thanks Clkwrk. I've read various reports from folks over the years, and it's not always catastrophic based on the amount of exposure time and depth of inhabitants. I'm just curious about the timing of things, because I'm due to ship a package or two out shortly, and I want to make sure I'm not fragging and shipping a dead/dying coral.

Don't sweat it Feerlaroc. The glass surrounding HID bulbs is typically quartz, because it blocks UV light very well. Standard float glass also blocks light, but not specifically UV to any great length. If the outer glass on the bulb is just cracked, I don't think you'll have a lot of UV light leaking, but... since it's a brand-new bulb (was like that out of the packaging, right?) take it back and get a new one. I agree based on the price...

- Mac