Bleaching Question

[RaymondL]

I hear the term corals bleaching and go white because light intensity is too high for a particular coral - what is the typical timeframe for this to happen, and when it does is it reversible? I'm going to assume that this doesn't happen overnight or a few days?

 

[Doctorgori]

sometimes the bleaching is reversible, but in my case seems the corals seem come back mostly beige/brown or green …

often frags come in and will bleach within 24hrs, bad shipping conditions, lighting shock, high temps.
…several causes
curious to see what others experience

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have metal hallide lighting, and have bleached so many corals by accident, they bleach overnight, or within 24 hours. its very fast,
I've never brought back a bleached coral.

 

[Waters]

To be clear, you are talking about actual bleaching and not STN/RTN (where the coral also turns white)? Bleaching is the result of the coral expelling most or all of its' zooxanthellae due to stress caused by many different things (including light that is too strong). That can happen pretty quickly as stated. I have brought those back buy placing the acro towards the bottom of the tank away from the higher PAR and flow. Turning white from STN/RTN is where the tissue of the coral dies off leaving the white skeleton. People often confuse the two.