Lighting dilemma

[Reefbound]

A few months ago I upgraded my lighting from a Coralife 260 watt pc to a 432watt Nova extreme 8x54 T-5 unit and I took over three weeks to slowly acclamate the tank to the new lighting so I didnt melt anything.
Now we are a few months into the new lighting and It beginning to bleach the tops of the liverock. I have decreased the amount of the lighting cycle from 12 to 10 hours and it seems to be still receding,but everything else is doing amazingly well including the Crocea clam thats in the sand and the Porite coral that sitting on top of the liverock and thriving.
I know you cant just say I have almost 6 watts per gallon given all the variables, but what should I do,Keep the lights on at 10 hours,reduce it more to say 8 hours or should I lift the lights higher than the 4'' they are know from the top of the tank. The lights are sitting on their 4 inch legs that were included with the lights.
Im glad that everything else is doing well but the rock looks kind of out of place being almost greyish/white on top and coraline covered underneath.

What whould you do?

 

[Brenden]

The coralline will come back. Being at the "peak" it prob just did not take the upgrade as well.

 

[Scooterman]

Yea just let it sit for a while & watch it, coralline varies with the amount of light you have so most probably a lighter colors will take the place of the original coralline.

 

[burning2nd]

might want to cut back to 8 hours, and work your way up

 

[Reefbound]

might want to cut back to 8 hours, and work your way up

I already did this starting at three hours a day and working up from there over a three week period when I first hooked up the lights...Are you saying do this again from eight hours? This to could be detrimental, yes?

 

[Krish]

Coraline tends to prefer lower light as well as the bluer spectrum so when you upgrade your lighting (wattage), it tends to receed for a while but usually it will eventually adjust to the new lighting. I've had the same thing happen to me going from 130w pc's (which got the coraline to grow like crazy) to 260w pc's which didn't affect it at all, but when I went to dual 250w MH's, I basically lost all my coraline. Now, I've transfered my stuff into another tank, running a single 250w MH and the coraline is finally coming back

 

[Scooterman]

Coraline tends to prefer lower light as well as the bluer spectrum

Not necessary true, different types like different amounts of light.

 

[Krish]

Not necessary true, different types like different amounts of light.

LOL! Yeah, different shades will grow with different intensities of light that's why the closer it grows to the top of the tank, the different the shade is, but it still likes lower light

 

[Krish]

Here's something Steve posted I've quoted below as well as the thread where you can find it

Previously posted by SteveS

As well as chemistry, lighting is definately a factor. The brighter the light and type of output, the slower the growth. Color of the coralline will aslo vary depending on the depth. At higher elevations it will be light pink darkening as you get closer to the bottom of the tank. In darker area's you may also find green, red, black and grey.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=200092#post200092

 

[Scooterman]

Isn't that what I was saying? Or is it because Steve said it & first but also Mike said it years ago & so so said it years before him LOL

 

[Krish]

NOPE! Yeah...Same thing, just in Spanish I think I think it was Tom that said he had crazy coraline one time and then it all vanished which I believe he said came from a change in lighting. I'll have to ask him...

 

[liveforphysics]

I try to prevent the coraline plauge in my setups, however, I gotta say that I get tons of coraline growth in my fuge, which has very intense lighting from 2700k (looks dingy yellow, no short-wavelegnth phosphors used) bulbs.

Keep in mind, you are getting a HUGE amount of light into the tank with your 8x54 T5 setup. I mean, very very serious lighting, 3x400watt MH (obvously reflector dependent) type lighting here.


Your upgrade from 260watt PC to 432watt T5 should be roughly a 600% increase in lighting intensity. Gotta give things time to adapt to something like that.

 

[Sherman]

liveforphysics, how do you justify those numbers? This may be a derail, but how could one possibly say that 432w of T5 compares to 1200w of MH and 1560w of PC?

As for your original question, Reefbound, what would I do? I'd let it be. I used to run 384w of PC (4x96), and now run 2x150w MH on a 38g. I've noticed a change in the coralline, but I'm OK with that. In the same way that button polyps are cool at first then become a pest, coralline will likely become a nuisance for you someday. It's nice on the rocks, don't get me wrong, but the trade-offs for the health of the rest of the tank is well worth it. I would kick your lighting back up to 12 hours (acclimate up) and not give a second look to the coralline. It will likely find its way back, anyway.

Also, how old is the tank and what are your calcium/alk perameters? Which temperature bulbs are you using?

 

[MarineTeng]

well to reduce some lighting put a acrylic sheild or something if yo have it, or eggcrate over the top, or just raise your light, or like other said reduce ur hours which is probably most cost effective as you'd be using less electricity

 

[liveforphysics]

Sherman- I sketched this just for you
From my rough calcs here, we are looking at 650% more than his old PC setup, and roughly (40KL-41KL) the same light entering the tank as your typical 4x400watt MH setup.

This is how I justify these wild claims

 

[Scooterman]

Luke you leave a lot of variables out, assuming under your perfect idea of what he had & now has. Also you should post the actual test done to prove the percentages you are using is correct & what exactly are they using to get these numbers, including equipment & testing methods then we can get an actual idea of what is real & what is assumed.

 

[Krish]

Well, in any event...If it's the coraline you are concerned about, it will adjust to the lighting eventually and continue to grow, but you will just get different shades of it than before. Coraline grows under the sun, so it will grow under intense bulbs it's just the initial change in intensities that are causing it to subside for you right now

As for acclimating the tank to it, I've seen using acrylic or eggcrate mentioned here already to help minimize the penetration of light a bit and you can always increase surface aggitation a bit to do this as well.

 

[Krish]

Luke you leave a lot of variables out, assuming under your perfect idea of what he had & now has. Also you should post the actual test done to prove the percentages you are using is correct & what exactly are they using to get these numbers, including equipment & testing methods then we can get an actual idea of what is real & what is assumed.

I agree Scooty...I just went back and looked at the chart and the "test" or calculation is worked out with the T-5 having the proper reflector meaning you'll get the best results out of it and the metal halides are only using a common reflector which means, not the best and isn't a fair comparison IMO. I still can't see where the T-5's could compare to 1200w worth of Metal halides, but that's just me I guess...

 

[MarineTeng]

luke how does 92% of t-5 penetrate the surface and the others only 35 and 40?

 

[Reefbound]

Also, how old is the tank and what are your calcium/alk perameters? Which temperature bulbs are you using?

Well now you did it, Your going to make me test my tank... I havent done that in six months.
Anyway so I dont get flamed I do a weekly 20 gallon water change every Saturday.
as for the tests:

Tank is 1 yr 2 month old

Ph 8.4
Calcium 440
Nitrates 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

I dont have an alk test but I could run to the LFS and he would test for me if you really want to know it.

Here are two pics taken 20 minutes ago, You can see how the tops are greyish white.