Sps too much light?

[Mattl22]

Just wondering how sps reacts if it gets too much light ?
I've been raising my LEDs they r pretty bright now ! So i have a frag of rainbow delight that was doing awesome encrusting great coloring up beautiful! It's at top of rock work so gets blasted with light after I raised my light a few times it lost polyp extention and lightened in color is this how a sps will react if too much light?
I read that this coral colors up better in lower light but it's on a rock I can't move should I leave it see what happens or find way too move it ??
Thanks
Matt

 

[Mattl22]

Wow!! 32 views not one response!

Ok I'll single u sps guys out

Mike ny
Cdiamio
Mgny

Help me !

 

[CoralMeister]

Wow interesting I recently encountered the same problem with too much light. I ran my AI SOL Blues over my sps reef at 95%. Some of the sps with high lighting demands were doing just fine, but some of the more sensitive pieces started to get a bit whiter. To fix this, you basically gotta play around with the percentages and figure out a compromisable amount so that every single coral in the tank is doing well always. My max percentage for my tank is 85% (Two modules of AI SOL Blues). That's the amount of light that satisfies each of my sps species.

I'll try to help you out as best as I can so:

So what brand LEDs?
Whats your lighting schedule?
Which sps corals in your tank are starting to white out?

 

[dherrera83]

i thought when they start to bleach it meant too much light? maybe wrong. i dont have any sps but so i hear. im sure someone with more experience will post.

 

[CoralMeister]

i thought when they start to bleach it meant too much light? maybe wrong. i dont have any sps but so i hear. im sure someone with more experience will post.

Well sps can either bleach from a water problem, sting, or too much light. The way to distinguish between bleaching due to a water problem and bleaching due to too much light is that if it is a water problem, the sps will USUALLY start to bleach from base up (indication of an alk problem) , however, sometimes it can bleach from tips down. If the sps bleaches from too much light then you will pretty much see the coral whiten out slowly, and equally throughout. Basically it doesn't have that vivid color it had when it first arrived in your tank.

If the sps was stung by a neighboring inhabitant, you will see a white dot in the area of the sting that almost always spreads throughout all the branches. In that case you have to cut the whitened out branch to prevent spreading.

Once you find the right lighting percentages, the easiest way to get lost color back is by Potassium dosing. It's the most effective IMO and through my own experience. You would need a K test kit though. I use the Red Sea brand for K tests.

On the other hand if sps corals get insufficient light, they will start browning out.

Hopefully I answered your question, happy reefing! rangehat :splitspin rangehat

 

[Mattl22]

Hi yes confirmed my suspicions the one in particular is vivids rainbow delight !

Will the corals that lighten and lose PE eventually get accustom to the higher light??

I have a 75 gal with 3 heat sinks total of 72 3 LEDs

 

[Mattl22]

I like the light where it is dont wanna lower it because I have some sps down low ! So I'll give the rainbow delight a month from today if no improvement I'll move it

 

[Mattl22]

Really wanna know weather this coral will eventually get used to this level of light and re color up!

 

[xclusive252]

What I would do is the sps with high light demand place in the center of the tank and high or where ever you get the highest par reading and the low light sps place lower in the tank or off to the side alittle and maybe slow them into the higher par reading area. or last raise the light fixture and lower it slowly or reduce the out put of the lights if they can be dimmed and slowly raise the %. My tank is about 90% sps and I am running a diy led from rapid led. These are some of the thing I have done to reduce the bleaching affect on my sps new and old. GL hope that helped you out if not hit me up and we can talk.

 

[Mattl22]

Thanks for info I think I'm gonna keep light where it is for now and see if the rainbow delight recovers I'm gonna give it a month if no improvement I'll move it which will be a pita because it is a main large rock!

 

[CoralMeister]

Heres what you should do if you really really really wanna keep your lights where they are...
Move the frag to the very bottom and slowly move it back to that very spot. What i suspect you did is you put the frag to the very top of your tank at full lights. Sps should be gradually acclimated to your lighting cycle.

 

[duke62]

coralmeister he already stated his sps was encrusted.he has dimmable leds which were lowered then he raised the light intensity.there really isnt much you can do either lower the intensity again or take the rock out and chisel the coral off and lower it down

 

[Mattl22]

You don't think it will get adjusted too it? And re color?

 

[CoralMeister]

coralmeister he already stated his sps was encrusted.he has dimmable leds which were lowered then he raised the light intensity.there really isnt much you can do either lower the intensity again or take the rock out and chisel the coral off and lower it down

But then again he wants to keep his lights as are.

Matt do you have any pics?

 

[Mattl22]

I'll take some I phone pics in am

 

[cdamiano]

Hi Matt - I got the Vivid Rainbow Delight from Jason also. I currently have it in my frag tank. I kept it lower in the tank for a few weeks than moved it up a little and then after a few more weeks I moved it up further. It has maintained most of it's color and I see some new growth. If you are seeing it lightening in color, you should either turn down the intensity or move it down until it gets used to your lighting and parameters. If it gets too light in color, it will be tough for it to recover.

 

[Mattl22]

Thanks Chris I dimmed the lights back a bit will keep u guys posted!

 

[tenMann2]

Hi yes confirmed my suspicions the one in particular is vivids rainbow delight !
Will the corals that lighten and lose PE eventually get accustom to the higher light??
I have a 75 gal with 3 heat sinks total of 72 3 LEDs

I think your lighting may be too much for you tank. I don't think you've mentioned what your blue:white ratio is or your light schedule.
On my 72gl I have 60 3w crees w/ 60deg optics and 3:2 ratio dimmed to 72% 8" from the water. I had bleaching and/or reduced PE when I had it at 65% / 6" from the water as well as when it was at 85% / 8" from the water. Where I have it set now is the sweet spot.
Since your sps is encrusted and you can't move. If you want high intensity you'll have to raise the fixture and slowly bring it down. Or leave it at a fixed height and slowly raise the intensity.

 

[AQUARIUM X-CELLENCE]

Hey Matt
I have 6 AI modules running both blues at 100%
And whites at 90% and my corals do fine
Keep the intensity you have going if the
Other corals are doing good, just add break
Time in between, like every three hours have
It drop a bit for about 20 min that should do
The trick

 

[Shalco]

I'm going to be getting my own DIY LEDs finished up this week, but I had an idea for you. I'm not sure if you have optics on the lights right now, but if you do, you can remove the optic over that coral. If you don't have optics, you can dim your light overall and put optics over the areas you have your SPS. I'm going to have 26 LEDs (11 blue, 11 white, 2 green, 2 reds) over my tank, i'm planning on keeping the lights around 10 - 12" above my tank and only have my optics over the areas I have my SPS. My plan is to increase the light intensity over a few weeks and then attach the optics at the end. Hopefully this works