House of Laughter

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Morrone,

Yes, if you burn your corals with newer intense lighting, they will bleach - one way I have found around this is to stagger the bulbs so that they decrease intensity at different times, this way you can move the one that is newer into the place of the oder bulb and not put a brand new bulb over your corals and can put a new bulb over where the youngest bulb was decreasing the need for acclimation (I should say lesseoning, not decreasing).

On a personal note - I put in a new XM bulb and it bleached all my corals - sucked. Be careful especially if you have maxed out your bulb life.

House
 

ShaunW

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House,
Did the XM bulb bleaching occur from the tips down? How long did it take for you to figure out it was the bulb (did they RTN or STN)? Is the bulb 20K?
Thanks for the input in advance (sorry for all the questions) but I think I may be experiencing the same problem!!! :( .
 

House of Laughter

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Soolby,

The bulb is a 10k abd they bleached from the tips down - STn for sure as it took longer for them to die off - most, if not all, did eventually make it back, but that was after a good pruning and keeping care daily.

It only took me a second to figure it out as I heard this from the guy I bought the bulb from - I didn't acclimate the bulb fast enough - sigh.

All are doing great now, so I can't complain.

Still having the problem, or just trying to figure out the root?

Hope all is well.

House
 

jackson6745

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Shaun and Jim, sorry to hear about your troubles. Jim, when I first put the 10k XM (switched from 250w Radiums) on my reef I had to lower the photoperiod to 5 1/2hrs per day to stop the corals from fading/bleaching. It took me 2 months to get up to around 8hrs per day. When switching from the 10k XM's to the 10k HQI's, I had to go through another period of acclimation because the DE's were even brighter. Before the corals totally bleach you will see them fading in color which is a good indicator to either move the coral down or shorthen the photoperiod.

Shaun, what was your bulb change that may be giving you the same problems as Jim?

Rich

[ July 29, 2004, 04:14 PM: Message edited by: jackson6745 ]
 

alrha

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how do we know how short of a photoperiod to start with and when to start raising it?
do we have to lower the photoperiod again when introducing new corals?
can the 20k bulbs be left at regular photoperiod, or do those need to be cut down as well? would 20ks be strong enough to bleach corals?
 

ShaunW

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Rich,
I changed out a 14k 175watt bulb to a 20K XM 175 watt.

As you know I have alot of light on my tank 9.5watts/gallon. I think the new bulb may have pushed my system over the edge.

Lately, I have been losing SPS left and right, one colony after another.

My biggest problem is that I made a completely fundamental error: I changed too many parameters at the same time, i.e. new cal reactor, new chiller, new light.
banghead.gif


Really sucks. I suspect that the bulb I have may be defective and that it "could" be leaking UV light.

[ July 29, 2004, 04:14 PM: Message edited by: solbby ]
 

jackson6745

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Alhra, that all depends on what you're switching from. 20k's are on the low end of the par charts so most likley acclimation would not be needed if switching from 10k's. In the past I ran 2x175w 10k's and switched to 2x250w radiums with no acclimation and no problems. If you see your corals begin to fade in color back off on the lighting a bit.

Shaun, I don't think the problem is with the bulb. The 14k bulb probably had more par than the XM 20k, besides a 175w 20k is really not strong enough to bleach your corals....unless it is defective like you said. Did the problems start immediately after adding the new bulb? Are most of the corals in the upper part of your reef fading in color? What is the PH range of your reef since adding the calcium reactor?

[ July 29, 2004, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: jackson6745 ]
 

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