Coral colors faded, need some help

[Andy V]

I switched from ATI T5's a few months back (4x24w on a smaller tank, but same depth as new one) to a single 250W Radium on an M80 ballast in a 24x24x24 cube.

My LPS (except the Acans) are not handling it well...as most of them are whiting (not bleaching) out. I have all LPS on sandbed and some under shade and they are still staying white. Furthermore, I am running the lumenbright mini pendant 18" off the water, which is higher than it is supposed to be.

The LPS are as low in the tank as they can be, and I started with the new MH setup 26" off the water and have acclimated over the course of three months. I got a bunch of SPS from a fellow BRS member, most of which have started to color up except for two since I purchased them two months ago.

The good news is that the LPS tentacles come out at night and they still eat when I target feed...something I have done infrequently and inconsistently over the entire time I have had them with no ill effects. Some have suggested that spot feeding would help, but I don't see how. Because the tentacles are out and not thrashing around, I believe the flow is appropriate.

My parameters are as follows:

- Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate are all zero. (API and Red Sea)
- Alkalinity 9.5 dkh (Hanna Checker) - equates to ~8dkh on a Elos kit
- Calcium 420ppm (Elos)
- Magnesium 1350 ppm (Elos)
- Phosphate 0.26ppm (Hanna Checker) - tested before 30% water change tonight
- Temp is 78-79 degrees
- SG is 1.025

I have tested these every day for a week now, and they are very consistent. Everything is controlled.

More than a few people have suggested dosing iodine to help, which I may try.

My thought is that I have eliminated all possibilities except the light is too much, unless I have missed something.

The corals that are affected in particular are:

- Bubblegum Monster
- Meteor Shower
- Blastomussa Merletti
- Alien Eye Chalice
- Unknown Chalice

The Kryptonite Candy Cane and the Acans seem to be fine...they are a little less vibrant, but relatively good.

So the questions are, is anyone running 250w radiums on a magnetic ballast and getting good color on the LPS in a 24" or less deep tank?

And if the LPS are faded due to the light - and given they are placed as low as possible in as much shade as possible - will they recover their color and will it take months?

I love mixed reefs and I had good success with them before, but I am puzzled right now. Thanks for the help!

 

[mandrake]

maybe you could put a screen over the top of your tank to diffuse the light more, to me it sounds like the halide is more concentrated in the small 24" footprint of your tank as opposed to T-5's which have a more even spread.

 

[Andy V]

Thanks for the reply. I think the issue with doing that is that the SPS won't have enough light if this were to be permanent. I understand that achieving a balance with SPS and some LPS is difficult...

 

[Andy V]

Anyone?

 

[joelg]

When I switched from VHO to LED I cooked most of my LPS it took almost a year for some to recover from the change
most i placed under overhangs to limit the light

 

[wrassefan]

that's alot of light.....how's the heat? I think if you have overhangs and shady spots, you will be okay. Did you slowly acclimate the corals? I would have prob gone to a 4 hr light sched in the beg for a couple of weeks and worked up and hour more every 4-5 days. The lp might be sunburned right now. How's the flow? I would keep feeding them and maybe cut the light sched back a bit. Do a water change and fresh carbon incase the corals are stressing each other sps vs. lps. secretions

 

[dz6t]

From 96w of t-5 to 250w of halide is a very big change. I assume your SPS is doing fine. If that is the case, your LPS is bleaching due to the change.

 

[Andy V]

Yes, it was a big change, but over the course of three months of acclimation? I started with a 4 hour photoperiod and the light 26" off the water, compared to a ten hour photoperiod and 6" off the water with the T5s. I am not arguing with you, I just thought that with that much acclimatization they would have been fine.

 

[Matt W]

How about your phosphates? Is 0.26 a trend? Where are they on average? Could this also add to the stress of light?

 

[Andy V]

I hardly ever test phosphate because I have zero algae in the tank. So I don't really know, but higher phosphates cause corals to brown out, not white out if I am not mistaken.

 

[SteveDola]

its the amount of light increased...even though you took 3mth + to acclimate youre almost 3x the original amount of light and its being super concentrated by that reflector. I went from 320w of T5 to 250w and still saw signs of stress. Its just a more intense source of light. I would try and move them under an over hang like stated above.


@wrassefan - when I had a 250w radium on my 2x2x2 tank the heat was no issue but I have a climate controlled living room. It would never get above 80. My tank with 8 T5s never gets above 79 now. 1 degree isnt much to be concerned about IMO. I personally wouldnt attempt keeping a tank in a space that wasnt either in a basement or in climate controlled room.

 

[SteveDola]

PO4 of .26 wouldnt do much to acans. may give a brownish color to sps may not. its not that high. I try and keep mine between .03-.08

 

[Andy V]

Thanks Steve. I suspected from the beginning it is the light...I moved some stuff to overhangs this morning so hopefully in a few weeks they will come back.

The question now is, can they ultimately be acclimated to be out in the open on the sandbed? I know only actually trying it will allow me to know, just wondering if this light is simply too much based on other's experiences.

 

[SteveDola]

I always had chalices and some acans on my rock work...not too high but mid way up. I think its more the fact that they were accustom to 96w of T5. If they came from my tank with 192w of T5 you wouldnt prolly have much of an issue...maybe a bit of stress then theyd recover in a few weeks. just take your time to acclimate. I bought some acans from guy that had 2 little LEDs over the tank and at first the acans were super puffed and colorful then from the lighting change after the 2nd day the acans retracted and were stressed for 2 weeks...but now theyre healthy and puffy (not as puffy but good none the less).

 

[Andy V]

Great to know. Thanks!