Coral lighting - what to look for

Clarinuto · Jan 21, 2019

I was wondering if someone could summarize what to look for to know whether various types of coral are receiving too much or too little light? I’ve seen a lot of people talking about bleaching in SPS due to too much lighting too fast, but am having trouble finding a lot of information on other types of corals (euphyllia, softies, other lps). I am in the process of transitioning my tank from T5 to Kessils (2 a360we’s over a 75g) and want to make sure I don’t fry my corals accidentally so I want to be on the look out for warning signs. Thanks everyone!

redfishbluefish · Jan 21, 2019

Ideally you'd want to use a PAR meter to set your lights. Unfortunately they are pretty pricey. So you're next best bet is a LUX meter that only costs about 10 bucks or so. What you're looking for is a LUX around 25K - 30K. Hope that helps.

BranchingHammer · Jan 21, 2019

Hammers and euphyllia will become almost see through and a very light glowing color when there is too much light. LPS will retract as well. As for sps, most brown with too little light and bleach (whiten) with too much light. Also, corals can get a lighter color if they are being starved with too little nutrients in the tank.
Hope this helps!

Clarinuto · Jan 21, 2019

BranchingHammer said:
Hammers and euphyllia will become almost see through and a very light glowing color when there is too much light. LPS will retract as well. As for sps, most brown with too little light and bleach (whiten) with too much light. Also, corals can get a lighter color if they are being starved with too little nutrients in the tank.
Hope this helps!

Thank you, that is super helpful. What about softies? I’m guessing they shrink from too much light and reach for light when not enough??