Why are my lights STILL bleaching my corals?

[merkywater]

darcurr;632020 wrote: kind of a long shot but just in case...
Are your bulbs double ended? If so, do you have the uv glass between them and the tank? I'm not trying to insult, but it's the only thing I can think of.

+1 They could be emitting too much UV, or more than they were use to, if they are DE bulbs and missing the glass sheild. Also like Skirz said make sure one of the bulbs is not cracked.

 

[rskillz]

How far above the water are the bulbs? Forgive me if I overlooked that portion, but didn't see it posted anywhere.

I switched to Lumenarcs on my old tank after using a retrofit and my god was the light more intense...I personally thought it was TOO intense. I moved them up to about 10' above the tank and they still would try and bleach my corals that were up high.

My suggestions would be to move the bulbs up above the water if possible.

 

[crewdawg1981]

Skriz;632028 wrote: Make sure the bulb isn't cracked. There's no way it's a problem of too much light. There's something you're missing. Can you post some photos?

I checked the bulbs again... def not cracked. At least not that I can tell.

Rskillz;632099 wrote: How far above the water are the bulbs? Forgive me if I overlooked that portion, but didn't see it posted anywhere.

I switched to Lumenarcs on my old tank after using a retrofit and my god was the light more intense...I personally thought it was TOO intense. I moved them up to about 10' above the tank and they still would try and bleach my corals that were up high.

My suggestions would be to move the bulbs up above the water if possible.

The lights are about 15 inches over the water, and given the canopy... they're about as high as I can get em. I mean... I was up at Marine Designs today and I mean... it has to be.. just HAS to be they still need to acclimate. I just dont get how its taken this long when they did okay in the sump with a 250k coralvue and are hurting under a 250k radium... granted, the basement is a PFO ballast and the DT's are Lumatek ballasts.

The lumenmax reflectors over the display absolutely outperform the batwing in the basement, but as I said, down there they are within 12-15 inches from the light and in the display... we're looking at corals along the bottom half of the tank.

One thing I have definitely noticed though... these radiums seems very white to me. I dont see any color pop like I was expecting given what everyone else has said about them... esp right under the bulb... maybe off to the side. And my rock o palys is shriveled up whenever the lights are on and a dull green... under XM 20k or reeflux 12k they were very flourescent green.

Is it possible that the bulbs are just... bad?

 

[rskillz]

Radiums seem more white to me under nice reflectors when the light is better focused. Under my retrofit they seemed far bluer. Just my observation though.