Odd coral behavior

[Fishnet]

Hi all,
My corals seem to open up during night time when the lights turn off and close 4-5 hours after the lights turn back on...wierd. This started to happen after I put in new lights ~ 6months ago (250MH + 2x55w actinics). There was a brief time the temp was at 84F before I fixed that problem. The tank has been operating normally for a couple months now, but the behavir deos not seem to improve. Any ideas on what is going on?? Could it be my flame angel picking on them during the day??? Please help...

Tank: 54g corner, 250W MH, 2x55w PCs, gen-x return+SCWD, remora
Params: 80F, 8.4pH, all rest normal...
Inhabitants: clown, flame angel, leather, torch, galaxea, zoos, open brain, colt, bubble...

 

[Tackett]

which corals are doing it?

 

[Len]

If it's most/all of them, they're probably just not acclimated to the new light intensity. Shorten the photoperiod to just 4 hours, then add an hour a week and they'll get accustomed. Better still, if you can raise the lights and slowly lower them, that would be the best acclimation procedure.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Many corals are natural nightime feeders, but they will adapt to the aquarium lighting conditions in a couple weeks. This has to do with their heterotrophic feeding and the availability of zooplankton at that hour.