Too much light?

[2slow95vert]

So I have a 56 column tank with reefbreeders Photon V2 lighting. I changed the intensities across all the spectrums a few weeks ago. I think I may have made it too high because my coraline seems like it's bleaching. The line you see across the back of the tank is NOT a shadow. Haven't tested water yet today(daddy day care today). Could this be from too strong lighting?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yes. It’s very possible to “blast” or “shock” the corraline.

 

[hart24601]

It sure is possible, of course just becasue the coraline bleaches doesn't mean the coral isn't happy! I find overall that coraline likes much lower light levels.

 

[reefwiser]

It can be a reaction to light change. Coralline Algae can be low or high light and in between. Best way to adjust your lighting is to use a Par meter to balance your light intensity from top to bottom of the tank. It is very important with LED light which can put our a very high out put lazer like light when not set up properly.

 

[jda]

Yes, coralline can bleach with sudden light increases. While purple coralline can handle a lot of light, it does not always seem to appreciate adding a bunch more at once.

Lower light coralline like pink, yellow, orange, red and blue (if you can find it) will sometimes die completely with too much light.

Brown, maroon and black don't seem to mind lots of light at all.

Edit: I took about 8" of water out of my new tank to do some work for a few hours. The Metal Haldies were running. About a week later, this coralline started to die... from the light in the open air. Coralline can handle being out of water for days, so it was not exposure to air.

 

[2slow95vert]

I forgot I also added carbon and gfo reactors a few weeks back. And I had the water level in the tank down a little below the bleaching line about a week ago when I was adding some frags

 

[gtrider]

I'd recommend renting a PAR meter. I actually just went through that exercise today. My lights were WAY to intense. i have a radion xr30 gen4 mounted 10" over my 65g and the PAR at the surface was 900... and 700 at my first SPS. I adjusted the lights and mapped out my PAR readings. Check it out.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I’m going with the corraline exposed to air.

 

[Velcro]

I’m going with the corraline exposed to air.

Yea, my tanks do this if I lower the level for a decent amount of time. Looks too even to be from light.

 

[2slow95vert]

I don't have a par meter, but I didn't increase the light too much from what it had been before. I'm thinking maybe it was having the water level low for a bit, but who knows for sure