Bleaching SPS question.

[derek_s]

All my SPS has been doing fine, but recently I have had a problem with just 2. My Rainbow monti and Supergirl Monti both bleached the conesarc. The polyps are paler, but still colored despite the WHITE conesarc. Both were blue for a while under my T5's as they colored up from brown.

Everything seems stable, so I moved them to lower light. They were both under one of the most intensly lit parts of my tank. I am wondering, Were they possibly getting too much light under my 8 VHO t-5's? Or maybe too little? I figured they could handle some power, but I didnt acclimate them (do'h) All other sps seem ok.

Stats-
temp 79
salinity 1.026
cal 500
alk 10 dkh
ph 7.9

no idea on phos

 

[johnr2604]

Sounds like you are heading in the right direction. Could have been to much light considering monti's need less light usually than most other SPS.

 

[steve]

NO!!! That's no good!

 

[derek_s]

Steve, your rainbow is still OK.. It is browned, but getting better. It is in a slightly different location.

 

[derek_s]

Barbara;212078 wrote: FWIW, I've got my little frag of sunset monti, frag of purple haze monti and frag of superman monti directly on the top of my reef, just barely off center of one of my 250W DE MH lights, and the montis are loving it! Mine seem to like a lot of light.

Yeah, but were they acclimated to that light? I'm wondering if mine got too much too quick with teh light change. I know montis generally can do ok with less light, but I think they also can stand really intense light if acclimated. I think...

 

[steve]

Hm okay, but still thats not good. It's weird, how long were they there for?

 

[FutureInterest]

Sunsets and purple haze can handle quite a bit of light. The superman I got from the ARC meeting though burned quite badly from strong light in my tank. I had to move it down after half of it burned up. Yes it starts turning a lil white then the polyps just die starting from the highest point first. My monti setosa also burnt but my rainbow monti from Jeremy and my other encrusters did just fine.

 

[derek_s]

2 months maybe. They were brown, colored up, then kept going to white. Hopefully they will recover. Seems like bleached corals take much longer to recover than browned ones.