Coral stress issues...

[Donewiththisplace]

1 month ago I upgraded my JBJ 28 lighting from the stock CF-Quad to a Current Nova Extreme Pro 20" over an open top.

A few days into it my frogspawn coral stopped opening and over the last week my mushrooms and zoas are doing the same. Only one Zoa that is in a darker corner of the tank seems to be having no problems as of yet.

I was running the CF-Quad about 7 hours a day.... the current light cycle is: 1p-2p Actinics, 2p-830p Acts/12000K, 830p-930p Actinics. (8.5 hours)

All parameters are in acceptable range so Im led to believe that the light is causing the problems. Im cutting the lights back to a total of 7 hours a day...as the strength of the NEP is noticebly brighter then the CF-Quad.

Any other suggestions as to what may be causing this???

Thanks in advance.

 

[sillysidewinder]

The CF stands for compact fluorescent, correct? Isn't the Nova Extreme a 6 bulb T-5 light? You're running that for an extra hour and a half more than before. It might be that it was too big of a jump, too soon. I'm not saying that it was a poor choice to upgrade your lighting, however maybe the coral need a little less intensity for a while to get used to the new light. I may very well be wrong, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. Anyone else, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Agreed. I thought that much light would be too much but they were doing good for a few weeks.

I've scaled the daylights back to 5.5 hours....with just the actinics for 45 minutes on each end for a total of 7 hours.

Lets see what that does.

Thanks.

 

[greybolt03]

It sounds like silly may be right how close to the tank are the lights.. Let say your old lights were 4in off the water you may need to start the new lights 10 in off the water and gradually move them closer over the span of a few weeks.

 

[bizzarro]

Or if possible, try adjusting the height higher and gradually lower it.

 

[sillysidewinder]

How's the new schedule working?

 

[Donewiththisplace]

About 2 days after starting the new cycle the corals started showing signs of improvement.

Zoas are opening up but they seemed to have been bleached a little. The colors are not as bright as they were. A few of the mushrooms and rics are still semi retracted but better than they were....might have to move them lower in the tank.

But all in all Im definitely breathing easier... I was fearing the worst for a bit there.

Thanks