LPS/Softies Bleaching after reflector cleaning

[Fink]

Has anyone else ever had this issue. Everything was going super great in my tank, everyone was super happy. It's a mixed reef tank with an aquatic life t5 hybrid fixture mounted on the rim of the tank running 4 B+, 1 P+ and one C+.

During regular tank maintenance I decided to ahead and clean the salt off of the reflectors since I noticed it was building up quite a bit..... Since then my sticks are going bananas, but my LPS (frogspawn, alveopora, favia) and a couple of softies (ricordea, kenya tree) are bleaching horribly.

Literally nothing else in the tank has changed... could i have increased the lighting intensity that much by cleaning the reflectors? I'm seriously considering changing to straight LEDs because I didn't want an SPS dominant tank, but that's what I'm going to end up with at this point...

 

[JumboShrimp]

Odd. I’m assuming you didn’t use a chemical cleaner (?)

 

[Fink]

Odd. I’m assuming you didn’t use a chemical cleaner (?)

Nope, just a damp paper towel

 

[JumboShrimp]

So someone can answer your question better than me, how quickly did you see adverse consequences (assuming for a moment there ‘is’ a connection)? Same day? Same week? Same month?

 

[Fink]

It's been gradual over the past month. I was hoping it was just an acclimation issue and that they would recover but today I went in and moved what I could to the few shaded areas I have, and moved a couple to my biocube LPS/softie tank that runs pretty mild LEDs.

 

[Jedi1199]

Has anyone else ever had this issue. Everything was going super great in my tank, everyone was super happy. It's a mixed reef tank with an aquatic life t5 hybrid fixture mounted on the rim of the tank running 4 B+, 1 P+ and one C+.

During regular tank maintenance I decided to ahead and clean the salt off of the reflectors since I noticed it was building up quite a bit..... Since then my sticks are going bananas, but my LPS (frogspawn, alveopora, favia) and a couple of softies (ricordea, kenya tree) are bleaching horribly.

Literally nothing else in the tank has changed... could i have increased the lighting intensity that much by cleaning the reflectors? I'm seriously considering changing to straight LEDs because I didn't want an SPS dominant tank, but that's what I'm going to end up with at this point...

This is not based on reefing, but plant care. I would say yes! You increased the lighting intensity enough (imagine turning up the sun 20% in an instant!) that your corals are reacting negatively. One of my other hobbies is carnivorous plants. I had a small tank for growing out seedlings and other plants that were not mature enough for full outdoor survival. Every time I would change the light bulbs (T8 grow lights) the plants would go through a phase of stunted growth. It usually lasted several weeks until they became acclimated to the more intense lighting. I suspect you are experiencing the same thing.

I may be wrong, but it is worth considering.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[Fink]

This is not based on reefing, but plant care. I would say yes! You increased the lighting intensity enough that your corals are reacting negatively. One of my other hobbies is carnivorous plants. I had a small tank for growing out seedlings and other plants that were not mature enough for full outdoor survival. Every time I would change the light bulbs (T8 grow lights) the plants would go through a phase of stunted growth. It usually lasted several weeks until they became acclimated to the more intense lighting. I suspect you are experiencing the same thing.

I may be wrong, but it is worth considering.

Good luck,
Steve

That's kind of what I was thinking, especially because the growth rate on my SPS accelerated noticeably. A couple of frags have doubled in size in the past month or so, and all of them (Except for one ponape birds nest that is also bleaching) have shown noticeable growth rate increases.

 

[Jedi1199]

That's kind of what I was thinking, especially because the growth rate on my SPS accelerated noticeably. A couple of frags have doubled in size in the past month or so, and all of them (Except for one ponape birds nest that is also bleaching) have shown noticeable growth rate increases.

Remember, nothing in nature happens fast!! The sun may be blocked out for a while by a cloudy day, but it doesn't suddenly increase in intensity in seconds. These life forms have evolved on the slow and steady rhythm of mother Earth. Even the largest aquarium is but a microscopic slice of the vastness of the ocean and therefore the smallest changes can have a dramatic impact on your system.

 

[zuri]

yea if you have ever used reefsnow it will make your water super clear the day after lps hate spikes in light so it can happen many ways