Bleeching Acro

[BigIan]

Our accro has started bleeching, since we upped the lighting.
its placed fairly straight under the light do you think the light may now be too intence and so the acro moved?


any help would be good thank ye people

 

[steelhealr]

What changes were made? What depth change or light change? All corals must be acclimated when changing lighting condtions. SH

 

[BigIan]

we went from a 150 watt metal halide, to a 250 watt metal halide.....
we had the acro at the bottom of the tank then moved it to where we want it over a few days. what else should i have done???


and thanks for the speedy reply

 

[Matthew5664]

I thoguht this about my hystrix but it turned out the white tips are the growth. The way corals grow Laying down calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a fairl quick prosses and can start from half way down the stem of a branch.

Something to consider.

 

[BigIan]

its only on the sided exposed to the brightest light....
so i`m guessing its due to the light.


exactly how should one acclimatise a coral to a new tank/light?

 

[Matthew5664]

move it down onto the sand and bring it up the tank over a period of abot a week. Or only have the new light on for 2 hours a doy then bring the photo-period up by 30mins a day until you happy

 

[BigIan]

thanks mathew....


will move the acro in the morning.

i obviously didn`t acclimatise it slowly enough

 

[Matthew5664]

whem I moved over from PC's to MH I have mine on for 30mins to start with for 2 days then added 15mins each way every 2 days

Does that make sens?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Its called photo-acclimation . You can lower the coral as youve done, and slowly bring it up to where you want it over the period of days/weeks, but you can also use two other methods. If your lighting fixture is pendant, you can raise the lighting fixture andlower it, or if it isnt a pendant fixture or free from a hood, you can ad a filter between the light source and the tank.

I have recently bought a MH unti, going from PC's, and I have decided to use fly screen mesh as a filter, it works a treat. Folded several times, every 3 days im removing on layer, and am also increasing the photo period slowly over a week or two.

Theres actually a current article on photo acclimation over at reefkeeping magazine. Reefkeeping Magazine: Coral Photo-Acclimation

 

[BigIan]

Thank you very much people,

since the acro has been at the bottom of the tank it looks alot better than it ever has EVERY polyp is open really wide and it looks amazing, it may well find its self a low level home in the future

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, when significant changes to lighting are made, its usually best to photo acclimate. Common suggestions have allready been given so I won't re-hash them. I will however encourage you to continue slowly bringing it up towards the light source . You may be surprised how much the acro will color up with extra lighting.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah while it's opened up loads more, the colours lookdarker and duller than before, so i definately think it needs moving up the tank, we'll just bring it up very slowly. poor things been moved around loads the last few weeks with the lighting crisis we had so it definately needs time to chill and settle!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

co-incidentally we've also been doing the reduced lighting thing....... we've spent the weekend sorting out the electrics in the house, so the tank lights have only been on for a few hrs each day