HELP - T5HO's bleaching my softies

[CJBROWN]

75gl, 48x18x20H, 4XT5HO Wavepoint in a canopy. They come with 2 blue plus of their own brand and 2 'sun light' white which I think are 10K. Replaced one of the whites with a Giesman Fiji Purple. The fixture mounted in the canopy is about 4" from the top of the tank.

Most of the corals are fine but I noticed zoas sucked down flat to their rock base, and some new mushroom polyps are curled up and starting to bleach out around their rim. As an experiment I put my drying rag under the light to shade the problem corals and they opened up fully after a day or so. so I suspect the lighting is too bright for some of these. The frogspawn is pretty light too, gets more color over a day with a little shade. All of the corals sit about 20" from the light and without rebuilding the canopy could not raise the fixture.

Should I change lamp brands and colors? Maybe add another purple or blue in place of the white?

HELP!!!!

Thanks!!

 

[Solus]

I dont even use 10k bulbs because I dont like that they drown out all the colors my 8 bulb t5 fixture does fine in my tank and everything seems happy maybe its your chemistry?

 

[Clifford]

Chris just run the lights for less time. It will save your coral and your electric bill.

 

[Solus]

whats a good run time for t5 lights chad?

 

[IEreefmaster]

+1 on what chad said. New T5's can go a long way as far as light exposure. If you don't want to lower the amount of running time, create more surface agitation and that will help with light penetration. The more surface agitation the less light penetrates and will act like a shade.

Here is my T5 schedule... Current Nova Extreme Pro 48" T5HO 6 Bulbs

-ATI Blue+
-ATI Blue+
-KZ Fiji Purple
-Geismann Blue Actinic
-Wave Point Actinic
-Wave Point Actinic

12:00pm Two ATI BLUE+ come on
1:00pm 4 other bulbs come on
6:00PM 4 bulbs turn off
10:00Pm 2 ATI BLUE+ turn off

Cycle repeats. My lights are 4" above the water line as well on provided fixture stands.

 

[kajung2k]

you could also go to HD or LOWES and purchase a light diffuser and put it over your tank (eggcrate)

 

[CJBROWN]

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I think I will replace the one white with a blue-plus, or a pure actinic, cut back an hour or two of lighting, and maybe even try the diffuser - I have some of that laying around. Lights are on 6-8am cuz we're up but I think I'll pull that segment, and then 3-11, so probably on too long. There's quite a bit of natural light during the day, the mushroom polyps respond, but the zoas don't open up 'till the lights come on.

Water chem is good although I've been trying to bump KH a bit with baking soda and the corals don't like it - a couple have spurted zoanthilae(sp). I got these cool hairy mushrooms from Chad that were doing great for a week or so but are now half their size. Not sure what's bugging them. Maybe still just acclimating to more light.

I shut down my skimmer last night, going to let it sit for a week and see how the corals react and what the water does. I think it's probably too clean for softies. I also added a bag of carbon to my filter sock.

SP 1.025
PH 8.4
KH 8-9 (now. has been 7-8)
Calc 460-480
Phos 0
NO3 0
NO2 0
amon 0
Temp 79-81

I don't have tests for idodine or mag.

On a side note, the sump I built from a 20L aquarium cracked and I had to build a new one. One of the baffles was a very tight fit and I have heard they will expand and crack a glass tank...sure enough! Glad I caught it before it blew out. Fortunately they're like $35 for the tank and I re-used my internals, shaving down the one baffle of course. :heh:


EDIT: BTW, kalk ATO, in case anyone is interested. Probably driving the PH up.

 

[IEreefmaster]

Even after all that, I still vote it is just too much light. Softies live in the deep ocean, off the reef wall. They are usually found in water 30' deep or lower. I would suggest if that is all you have that you don't run the lights that long, or maybe only a couple bulbs for down and see how your corals respond. Run that for about a month as that is about how long it takes for corals to truely acclimate to there new environment. Then start increasing the light (You can unscrew the bulbs if need to be to get 1bulb on, then 2, then 3 etc...)

 

[CJBROWN]

Even after all that, I still vote it is just too much light. Softies live in the deep ocean, off the reef wall. They are usually found in water 30' deep or lower. I would suggest if that is all you have that you don't run the lights that long, or maybe only a couple bulbs for down and see how your corals respond. Run that for about a month as that is about how long it takes for corals to truely acclimate to there new environment. Then start increasing the light (You can unscrew the bulbs if need to be to get 1bulb on, then 2, then 3 etc...)

This is what my train of thought is as well. No sps corals, just soft and LPS.

I'm going to try running with the two blues and the purple and take the one white one out, see how that does.

Thanks!

 

[IEreefmaster]

This is what my train of thought is as well. No sps corals, just soft and LPS.

I'm going to try running with the two blues and the purple and take the one white one out, see how that does.

Thanks!

If I were you I wouldn't run any white bulbs. There really isn't any reason to? Also, I would start off with just two blues as LPS are also deep reef animals. Then increase it to 2 and a purple, then 3 and a purple over the course of like 4-5 months.

 

[BeanMachine]

I've read many articles that talk about 10k or equivilant color lamps not only have increased PAR, but also trigger faster growth in many corals. While this isn't 100% necessary and reefers use blue/purple/actinic color lamps strictly all the time with good results its something to think about.

I agree about softies and LPS not requiring much light, but I also don't think you have too much light per se.

I would also just suggest reducing the photoperiod by 2 hours or so.

I had a thread on another site talking about t5s and getting peoples feedback on photoperiod, combos, etc. and the consensus was 8 to 10 hours total.

I like 10 only because I've spent a lot of time and money on my tank so I would like to appreciate as long as possible.

 

[IEreefmaster]

Your right cody,

However, I think that KZ fiji's have the same if not more par and than daylight white bulbs. It sounds like he just switched from other lights to T5s maybe, or just blasted his corals with intense T5 lighting. regardless, I am not saying that there is too much light, simply saying there might be too much light too quickly in turn shocking the corals some.

I vote, take the bulb combinations down, only run 2 bulbs, then 3, then 4 as to slowly ramp up the lighting until the corals are acclimated to full brightness at 8-10 hours.

I've read many articles that talk about 10k or equivilant color lamps not only have increased PAR, but also trigger faster growth in many corals. While this isn't 100% necessary and reefers use blue/purple/actinic color lamps strictly all the time with good results its something to think about.

I agree about softies and LPS not requiring much light, but I also don't think you have too much light per se.

I would also just suggest reducing the photoperiod by 2 hours or so.

I had a thread on another site talking about t5s and getting peoples feedback on photoperiod, combos, etc. and the consensus was 8 to 10 hours total.

I like 10 only because I've spent a lot of time and money on my tank so I would like to appreciate as long as possible.

 

[CJBROWN]

I was thinking I would put one blue plus and the fiji for color and try that for awhile and see what they do. If they perk up great, if they don't I'll put the two blues in there and see what that does. Add another tube in a few weeks. run them for 8-10 hours for now.

Here I spent all that money on 'reef lighting' and the darn thing is too bright!
:suspicious:

The guy on the RC lighting thread swears by those ATI tubes, the blue plus. Are that much different from any of the others? He will recommend all blues and a purple too unless you have a lot of water depth or are trying to grow SPS.

 

[IEreefmaster]

I was thinking I would put one blue plus and the fiji for color and try that for awhile and see what they do. If they perk up great, if they don't I'll put the two blues in there and see what that does. Add another tube in a few weeks. run them for 8-10 hours for now.

Here I spent all that money on 'reef lighting' and the darn thing is too bright!
:suspicious:

The guy on the RC lighting thread swears by those ATI tubes, the blue plus. Are that much different from any of the others? He will recommend all blues and a purple too unless you have a lot of water depth or are trying to grow SPS.

Well I have two ATI Blue+ and I love the color rendition that they give, with the Fiji Purple, it is the perfect balance IMO. I had 12 SPS colonies growing like crazy under my T5s and the colors are 2nd to none.

Here is proof...

Here is a FTS...ATI Blue+ Only... for color reference

Exact bulb configuration front to back...

-Wave Point - Blue Wave
-KZ Fiji Purple
-Giesemann Blue Plus
-ATI Blue+
-Wave Point - Blue Wave
-ATI Blue+