Stronger light causing Bleaching?

[Boxster]

Hey folks, as you all know, I upgraded my 30W light to the current-usa 2x96W light recently. I began to see some purple corraline start to bleach or flaking slightly. It happened on one LR at the bottom and some corraline on the glass. Is this normal? I read somewhere that corraline does better in lower intensity light.
I don't have Corals to acts a shade over the LR now.

 

[jamal-188]

Yes I would imagine it could bleach if it's not use to the intensity. I've also heard coraline does grow better with less intensity and I've witnessed this as well. under my 2x250 mh's coraline really grows best lower in the tank and it areas that are some what shaded. In another tank under 265w PC coraline has grown much faster.

 

[Brisc0]

I got a crappy LR order (160 lbs of 99% pure bleached fiji) I mean this stuff was stark white, my tank looked like the north poll of reeftanks. I have my aquascape on full force 520W PC lighting and in 6 weeks the rocks have been overtaken now 100% by a green strain of coraline. I have no experience with coraline and MHs. HTH and good luck.

 

[reefrunner69]

Coraline algae growth under MH lighting, 175W MH + 2 X 32W PC on a 20g long tank (12" tall).

Different coralines will have different lighting needs, IME. the purples appreciate lower lighting, and the pinks and greens appreciate the more intense lighting.

 

[Boxster]

So, it should not be a concern right? Let it bleach and grow back with other color.

 

[reefrunner69]

So, it should not be a concern right? Let it bleach and grow back with other color.

Sort of, to grow coraline you need CA and ALK levels that are balanced and in the proper range for calcium using corals and algae, you need light and most importanly you need the algae. If all the coraline has died (which isn't likely), you will need to add some. If you do not have the higher light demanding species of coraline on your rock anywhere (also not likely), then you will need to add it. This is another reason why a diverse type of rock is good, different species of coraline dominate in different areas of the world as well as different areas of the reef. If you find a tank with high intense light with good coraline growth, next time they scrape coraline get some of what they scrape off and add it to your tank. It will spread.

 

[ReefRaff]

Kevin, Is there a fuge on that tank? I noticed the subsrate isn't a DSB. Or atleast it dosn't look like it to me.

 

[reefrunner69]

I have a HOB fuge.

 

[jerejohnson]

how does the hob fuge work? what does it look like? do you have any picks?

 

[reefrunner69]

how does the hob fuge work?

Water is brought in by an overflow and flows through a chamber with a sandbed, some LR and some macro algae, then is pumped back to the tank. This was a HOB fuge made for me by another member, I do not have any pics of it and it is a pain to try and take any cause of where the tank is situated and then the fuge is behind the tank, sorry. There used to be some pics of it in the DIY forum, but think the pics have been deleted.

There are a few models available on the market, the most popular being the CPR aquafuge, it works the opposite, water is pumped in and overflows back into the tank, like a powerfilter..
CPR 24" HOB Aqua Fuge