bleaching & lighting

Brent RH · 02/16/2009, 10:27 PM

Used a PC coralife for 2 years. Lots of nice purple coraline. decided to upgrade to Nova pro extreme. cut the time down and just ran atinics for a week. Then went full force with attinics 12 hrs and 10k at 10 hrs. Turned all my coraline bright white.

come to find out my nova is actually junk. 2 of 3 ballasts gone bad in less than a month. So now I am back to using PC for the last 3 weeks. Coraline is starting to come back. Just ordered Tek5 last night and am expecting it to bleach coraline again if someone doesn't tell me how the light transition is meant to work. heard of stacking bug screens for windows... any other methods? run just attinics for a month??? This light should be brighter than my nova even though it has two less bulbs.

jdmcivicek9 · 02/16/2009, 10:37 PM

i really wouldnt worry about it if i was you...more than likely if your tank is healthy it will purple up again in no time!!

Brent RH · 02/17/2009, 07:45 AM

how about with the new light. I shouldn't just go full swing right off the bat right????

SaltyDr · 02/17/2009, 10:25 AM

I upgraded from 4x96W PC to 4X54 T5 and kept 2X96W PC. Most of my coralline bleached, but it's now been 6 weeks and it's coming back. I wouldn't worry about it, as long as the coral isn't bleaching.

IslandCrow · 02/17/2009, 11:57 AM

What you did the first time was pretty stressful on the photosynthetic algae in your tank. Basically, you got them used to even dimmer light, and then you hit them with exceptionally strong light for a 10 hour period. . .which is incidentally longer than most people run their full spectrum lights (most run actinics for 12 and full spectrum for 8).

OK, that said, here's what I'd suggest for your next effort. Go to your local hardware store and by some window screen material. Either the black or grey stuff will work fine. Place a few layers of the window screen between the light and your tank until the intensity looks pretty similar to what it did with the PCs. Then, remove a layer of the window screen every 2 weeks. Some people go with one layer every week, but I had issues with some of my corals removing them that quickly.

Brent RH · 02/17/2009, 06:21 PM

thank you guys

02/16/2009, 10:27 PM	#1
Brent RH Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: central Minnesota Posts: 311	bleaching & lighting Used a PC coralife for 2 years. Lots of nice purple coraline. decided to upgrade to Nova pro extreme. cut the time down and just ran atinics for a week. Then went full force with attinics 12 hrs and 10k at 10 hrs. Turned all my coraline bright white. come to find out my nova is actually junk. 2 of 3 ballasts gone bad in less than a month. So now I am back to using PC for the last 3 weeks. Coraline is starting to come back. Just ordered Tek5 last night and am expecting it to bleach coraline again if someone doesn't tell me how the light transition is meant to work. heard of stacking bug screens for windows... any other methods? run just attinics for a month??? This light should be brighter than my nova even though it has two less bulbs.

02/17/2009, 11:57 AM	#5
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	What you did the first time was pretty stressful on the photosynthetic algae in your tank. Basically, you got them used to even dimmer light, and then you hit them with exceptionally strong light for a 10 hour period. . .which is incidentally longer than most people run their full spectrum lights (most run actinics for 12 and full spectrum for 8). OK, that said, here's what I'd suggest for your next effort. Go to your local hardware store and by some window screen material. Either the black or grey stuff will work fine. Place a few layers of the window screen between the light and your tank until the intensity looks pretty similar to what it did with the PCs. Then, remove a layer of the window screen every 2 weeks. Some people go with one layer every week, but I had issues with some of my corals removing them that quickly. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

02/16/2009, 10:37 PM	#2
jdmcivicek9 Moved On Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: 39°N, -108°W AKA Somewhere in Colorado Posts: 578	i really wouldnt worry about it if i was you...more than likely if your tank is healthy it will purple up again in no time!!

02/17/2009, 07:45 AM	#3
Brent RH Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: central Minnesota Posts: 311	how about with the new light. I shouldn't just go full swing right off the bat right????

02/17/2009, 10:25 AM	#4
SaltyDr Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Southwest Florida Posts: 1,191	I upgraded from 4x96W PC to 4X54 T5 and kept 2X96W PC. Most of my coralline bleached, but it's now been 6 weeks and it's coming back. I wouldn't worry about it, as long as the coral isn't bleaching.

02/17/2009, 06:21 PM	#6
Brent RH Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: central Minnesota Posts: 311	thank you guys