Blinded by the light... (06/22/03)
Hi, I have read facts and questions section and haven't find an answer to my problem.
<Hi. Ananda here today, with an idea on this one...>
I have a 34 gallon tank and was using 65 watt CSL Compact on it...I have Soft Coral which was doing fine. a week ago I upgraded to VHO Lighting, I now have 3-24" URI VHO ( 2- super actinic, 1-AquaSun)...
<Oh my goodness... unless you *gradually* increase the lighting level over the corals, you can light-shock them. Imagine walking from a dark closet into the bright outdoors -- you tend to squint, don't you? Well, you have eyelids that can protect your eyes, but your corals do not have anything that can protect their bodies.>
now the corals are not doing as good...two is dying...I went from 1.9 watt per gallon to 6.6 watts per gallon.... What's wrong...are the VHO Lighting too strong?
<A sudden increase like that would cause problems, yes.>
I wasn't home one time when the temperature went up to 87 degree in the tank...
<Yikes! That undoubtedly compounded the problem. Not only too bright, but far too hot...>
I am now buying a IceCap Fan....
<In the meantime, a small fan aimed across the top of the water will help.>
What do u think is the problems the Light too strong or temperature of the water?
<Both! The corals were not given time to adjust to the bright lighting, and that followed by the temperature spike stressed them further. I would put several layers of screening between the lights and the tank, until you get the lighting much closer to what it was with your CSL lighting. Then you can *gradually* remove layers of screening -- over the course of many days to allow them to acclimate to the extra light. Do look around on the WetWebMedia site and chat forums for more info about doing this.>
would appreciate anything that can help thanks,
Scott
<You're welcome. --Ananda>

- Issues with Coral -
Hi,
I've had a 55 gallon reef tank set up for about 10 months with everything working great.  However, recently (in the past 2 weeks), the corals seem to be slowly fading.  Here's a list of what I have in the tank and its current health pulsing xenia--going limp over the past 4 days; fox coral--receding over the past 2 weeks; green bubble coral--seems to be fine; encrusting gorgonian--seems to be fine; Tubastrea--receding over the past 2 weeks 
<Is this fed on a regular basis with a meaty seafood?>
frogspawn--isn't coming out as fully; candy cane coral--receding; all of the fish (Firefish, 3 Chromis, Clownfish, Flame Angel, Royal Gramma and Mandarin) are looking and behaving normally.  I've checked the nitrates (5 ppm), calcium (400), pH (8.0), specific gravity (1.024), temperature (80).  I can't seem to figure out what the problem is.
I've got a Seaclone 150 skimmer, an under gravel filter, a penguin BioWheel 350 and 60 lbs of live rock.
<First off, I would suggest removing the under gravel filter and substrate in favor of a deep live sand bed. I would remove any mechanical or bio filtration from the penguin since you have ample live rock. You may also want to upgrade your protein skimmer as it is a bit undersized (regardless of what they recommend on the box).>
The light is a 260 watt JBJ  (2 actinic bulbs and 2 daylight) which is on from 8 am to 10 pm with a 1/2 hour dawn dusk effect with just the actinic bulbs.  The manufacturer doesn't recommend changing the bulbs until 14-16 months so I don't think that could be the problem either.
<Regardless of what JBJ says, all fluorescent lamps should be changed at a maximum of every twelve months. 8-10 would be much better. Even though the intensity will have dropped and the spectrum shifted, I doubt it would be causing the problems you have described.>
I'm planning on adding a 20 gallon refugium in the next week or so which I thought might help, but I was wondering if you have any ideas of what could be causing this problem.  I can't think of anything else.  Please help!!  Thanks  --Kirra
<There was a similar problem with another aquarist who, after several full range water tests, discovered that the cord to his heater  had disintegrated while submerged. Check all your wires, and do be careful. I would run a copper test to rule that out, then perform a large 50%+ water change. It is possible that a contaminate has gotten in there that does not effect the fish (like heavy metals). I would also pop in a poly-filter or two because they adsorb all sorts of nasties. Where is your top-off and water change water coming from? -Kevin>

Light Problem, Will the corals make it? 2/10/04
I just got a new light fixture today, a 4x65 CSL moon-lite.  I had a 2x65 Coralife Aqualight.  The new fixture came in with a dead 10,000K bulb, so on one side of my tank I have only the actinic bulb.  Will this light be enough to keep my corals healthy for a week until the replacement bulb shows up, or do I need to run out right away and buy a daylight bulb?  I have Xenia, Finger leather, star polyps, and Ricordea on that side of the tank.  Thanks!-Ken
<your best bet is to temporarily prop the canopy up so that the daylight bulb is centered over the tank. Actinic blue alone will not support your corals and they may suffer light shock if suddenly exposed to a new daylight bulb after a week without. Anthony>

Acclimating Corals To A Different Lighting Scheme
Hi again  !
<Hi there! Scott F. here today!>
Lighting question. I have replaced 3x250 10k HQI bulbs with 3x250 20k HQI bulbs.
<I use and love 20ks, myself!>
I have SPS and LPS in the tank. (mostly SPS). What is your recommended acclimation schedule? I have heard dozens of methods.
<I can't think of a better article on the topic than this little gem from our own Anthony Calfo. A great technique which every reef hobbyist should learn and use! here is the link:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm
Enjoy! Regards, Scott F>

Lighting Question 4 July 2004
Dear Bob and crew, <Hi Aloke, MacL here with you tonight.>
I've been going through the exhaustive FAQs on the WetWeb website and these have proved very helpful to me. <Good to hear.>
I have a question regarding lighting and corals turning brown. I use five 40 w fluorescent tubes on my 90 gal tank, three full spectrum (supposedly) and two actinic. Earlier, for two months I just used the normal day to day tubes, and none of my corals died but I didn't necessarily see any growth. <I know that there are brands of bulbs out there with 6,500 spectrums. Something that makes a difference is the depth of penetration of the light. How deep is your tank, where are the corals placed.>
Most people nowadays prefer stronger MH lighting, or PC lighting.. which I can't afford now, at least for the next four to five months. I've heard of European tanks that run only under fluorescent lighting successfully, and I would like to know what you think of these fluorescent tubes. My tank houses soft corals mostly, as I know my lighting really is not suitable for most hard corals. <Very wise> so I'm going with mushrooms and zoanthids. I do have a clam though (which has done quite well) and an SPS (Porites, I think) frag.
as well as a green moonstone coral. <I would think eventually they will need more lighting. But if they are doing well just continue to watch them. Honesty to keep the clams and SPS most people recommend 4 watt per gallon of water.>
I noticed some of my polyps and mushrooms turned brown in my tank. While in the LFS' tanks, they were under really bad lighting. Often a big tank had only a single NO tube for lighting. Wouldn't the new, better lighting mean better colours on the corals? Someone told me this had something to do with symbiotic zooxanthellae - could you explain why this happens? <Animals from intensely lit areas of a reef that are not supplied with similar lighting in captivity may appear to change color as they shed unnecessary U.V.. reflective pigments. At that point, such animals may appear to be darkening in color, often to a darker brown or golden color. The aquarist often associates this with a decline in health, although that is not necessarily the case. The color change may be attributable to an increase in the population of zooxanthellae algae, or simply the greater visibility of resident zooxanthellae now visible in the absence of the U.V. reflective pigments. Whether the change is intolerable or not depends on if the coral’s fundamental needs are being met by the decreased illumination. Many corals can survive in captivity with less surface irradiance than the optimum levels received in the wild environment so long as the compensation point of photosynthesis is met. We call this photo adaptation. And even without it, supplemental feeding of the animal can be compensatory.  For more on this please look at this section of the WetWebMedia website, http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm>
By the way - I live in Laos, a small country bordering Thailand, in south east Asia. <Wonderful and so nice to meet you.> My tank has two false Percula clownfish, two hermit crabs, about 20 pounds of LR (so far) and I don't intend on buying any more fish... if I'm really tempted I might get a royal Gramma, but that'll be it. I also have a 3 to 4 inch sand bed. The tank is just over a month old, earlier everything was housed in a 30 gallon tank.
Thanks, Aloke <Good luck Aloke>

Shocking Corals
Well, I bought a compact light for my 29 gal. reef tank today, and I think I almost shocked my corals. I have a 29 gallon reef, however, when I put the compact lights on everything kind of suck up and shriveled. I put the two strip lights, (1) 10,000K daylight and (1) 50/50 back on after about 10 minutes and everything that shrunk up was looking good again. The compacts had 50/50 lights and all the color seemed to disappear from my tank. I have relatively low light corals, mushrooms, leathers and yellow, green and brown polyps, watermelon mushrooms. What would I be better off using? Would the double strip light serve me better so I can put the kind of bulb they are used to in and take up less space? Thanks for any input.
<The various wattages would have been helpful. I am guessing you currently have 2 20 watt normal output fluorescents and you exchanged them, temporarily, for a 55 watt compact fluorescent. The change from 40 watts NO to 55 watt PC would be fairly dramatic and needs to be done carefully. Everything you listed can and will adapt to brighter light (they may even grow better), but it needs to be done slowly. Shielding/shading some of the light or raising the PC fixtures up off of the tank somewhat is in order. We have discussed this procedure in changing from VHO or PC to MH's. Please look through the archives for a more in depth discussion. -Steven Pro>

Corals Wasting Away
Hi: New here but was referred to this site by a friend. I have a DAS tank 56 gal. for about 4 years now. Everything seemed fine, a few coral died but that is normal I suppose.
<Not really. There is some reason for it, perhaps unidentified but there is one.>
I have tangs, angelfish, gobies, cleaner shrimp, etc everything seemed fine. I add RO water to top up, I have been changing about 1 gal each week approx.
<Rather modest amounts>
All of a sudden about 2 weeks ago, I noticed a big decline in coralline algae, the corals also seemed to close up.
<Best guess, you reached a critical threshold with pH, alkalinity, calcium, allelopathy, etc. Something has built up or decreased overtime and now your corals are signaling a problem.>
I run a 56 gal. DAS system, only add RO water to top up. Everything seemed to be going fine. My four year old elephant ear coral was a show piece. Now however its shrunk to a mushroom. My blue mushrooms have even shrunk more! I am completely baffled what is happening. My fish seem to be fine! I have VHO lighting and add calcium, strontium, and CoralVite since the beginning of my set up. I change about 1 gal of water per week, not always regularly. All my chem tests seem to be online......always online since I started the set up.
<Without actual values I am severely hampered in helping you.>
This is the first time I have run into a serious problem. I did have a Cyanobacteria problem at one time but cleared that up. I use the coral supplements very limited as this can cause a Cyanobacteria bloom. However getting back to what is happening now. I have changed 30 litres of water last night, and I am doing the same tonight. I hope tomorrow will bring some results. I have a lot of money invested in corals, the fish are fine. I run a Fluval filter, which I use Black Diamond carbon. I also have a Fluval filter just for bacterial correction. What should I do!
<The water changes are a good idea. So was testing the water, but without the results, I cannot advise you further.>
I hope this was enough info to give me some advise.
<Not really>
Hope you will respond. I had a friend called Tangster 1 on the salt water aquarium site, but he had been sick and unable to respond. Please let me know, OK? Will really appreciate some advise....I run VHO bulbs so lots of light........yours truly, Bev Parker
<I would be glad you help you if you respond. -Steven Pro>

Light Shocked Corals?
Greeting and salutations
<Hi there! Scott F. with you today!>
My problem is as follows setup:
300 Litres. Used to have 2 Actinic Fluorescents and 2 10000K White fluorescents -Recently changed the 10000k's to 2 x 150 MH and kept the Actinics . Power head driven protein skimmer which only does about 1 cup a week ??? Problem here ??
<Well, not a problem, per se- but try to adjust it to pull out a couple of cups a week, if possible>
Fluval 404 Filter NO Calcium Reactor / doser
My water parameters are good although monitoring my Calcium is a problem. I use reef life Calcium Supplements and Buffer tablets on a weekly basis.
<Do try to monitor calcium additions closely...The calcium/alkalinity dynamic can get really out of whack if you don't test for these regularly>
My problem is that about 2 months ago I purchased a small cluster of brown mushrooms and a tree coral . My tree coral was doing great all of his small little feelers where coming out and grabbing the water for food . Now 2 months later it hasn't opened up for about 2 weeks and my mushroom coral is dying . I do 10 % water changes every week , my lighting should be fine ...... Why
is this happening to me ??????? Should I add iodine and all those other expensive supplements you find in the pet shops ???? Werner Schoeman
<Well, Werner- it sounds like everything is in order here...However, it appears that the decline in the corals occurred about the same time you upgraded the lights. Mushroom corals, in particular, can be adversely affected by sudden changes in lighting (both intensity and spectrum). Anthony has a great article on this on the wetwebmedia.com site. Do check it out! I don't think that you need lots of supplements....just maybe a little patience, and some slight adjustments. Check all water parameters for any aberrations. then I think you'll see those corals come back! Good Luck! Regards, Scott F.>
Werner Schoeman

Stressed coral - 2/12/03
Hi,
<Cheers, bud>
am curious if Mr. Calfo has ever seen anything such as the acropora in the link that I am sending.  
<Too often>
I bought the lil bugger because I was stunned by the color on the internet and have received it today.  Is this coral dyed?  
<Dude... if you thought it was suspicious or dyed, why did you buy it before asking about it? Seriously... I don't want to pick on you but it is a valid question. No surprise here... for the sheer amount of e-mail we get like this, it breaks my heart to see people that seem to forget these are live animals... not just commodities. Research every animals before you buy it and be confident that you understand its needs and can provide for them. Else you support a bad aspect of the industry>
I noticed polyps down around the base of the Acro but don't see any on the branches yet but the branches are the bright blue.
<to answer your question specifically, the coral is not dyed but it will likely be "died" soon. If it survives, I can assure you it will be a different color. What you are seeing is a coral that has been over-illuminated (likely by obscene wattage halides over shallow water). In turn, it expelled most of its zooxanthellae and the sweet colors you are seeing are simply UV reflecting proteins. Since they cannot translocate carbon as the zooxanthellae did to feed the coral, and since the aquarium does not have a supply of nanoplankton, this coral will likely die within 6-10 months. It might hang on a little longer. To try top save it (in wait for the return of zooxanthellae) you will need to have a source of dissolved organics (even lingering nitrates in the tank may help). European aquarists have promoted dosing of a nitrate solution (in Daniel Knop's book and my BOCP1) or dosing with ammonium chloride. In time with more appropriate lighting, the animal may return to a more autotrophic existence. Sorry to be a buzzkill, dude... but it is what it is>
Polyps may be still hiding I guess but I have never seen this color acropora before.  Any clues as to being dyed or not?  What type of lighting should it be kept under and what type of water current?  Please fill me in.  Thanks, Jeff
<I can't say about lighting without knowing the depth of your tank. No worries, check out the reef invertebrate lighting article in our archives... there is rates lamps and species groups and water depths. Best regards, Anthony>