Colt coral lighting question

[rhorn67]

I added a purple colt coral to my tank about a week ago. I have noticed that it seems to be long and more tree like in the morning and during light ramp up time. Once lights have been at peak for an hour or two the coral tends to shrink down and become short and stocky. I have it middle of tank where PAR reads around 180-200 and water flow is medium. I have read lighting should be anywhere from 150-300. Is this normal behavior for this coral or do you think the lighting is too high?

Thank you

 

[joshkirkland83]

Put it on the sand

 

[rhorn67]

PAR at the bottom of my aquarium is 50-100 at the current level I have the lights set at. I suppose moving it to the sand is the easy thing to do. I guess I'm trying to figure out whether my numbers are off as far as what the colt coral needs. Should 180-200 be ok for that coral? Is that the behavior for this coral when it is receiving too much light?

 

[rhorn67]

Well I moved the colt down where PAR is around 80-100. The coral doesn't look so good. Seems like I am seeing more white than purple at the base of each branch and it doesnt seem to be opening up as much. If the lighting is too low would the branches extend further looking for the light?

 

[joshkirkland83]

Well I moved the colt down where PAR is around 80-100. The coral doesn't look so good. Seems like I am seeing more white than purple at the base of each branch and it doesnt seem to be opening up as much. If the lighting is too low would the branches extend further looking for the light?

Yes. They dont require that much light. This is a fairly easy coral to keep. I have one in one of my tanks. Its on the bottom right in my 90g. I have two kessil 150w for lighting and it thrives. So there is NO WAY its getting a par that high in a 24" deep tank with 150s. I have had corals take almost a month to adjust to my tanks, sometimes it takes time.

 

[rhorn67]

Unless the PAR meter I rented from my LFS is completely off PAR at bottom of tank left to right is 45-88-120-99-57. I know settings you see on the various sites that sell corals are general but this one shows moderate to high on most of them. Having said that I do understand that its different in each tank so some moving around to find the right spot is needed. How long do you wait after moving to determine whether its good or not?

On another note how do you take pics without them being washed out in blue? I have read to use gels in front of the lens to filter it out.