Possible bad bulbs?

[jamal-188]

I posted a few days ago about bleaching acros. I got 10 acro frags yesterday and then a huge colony from work that was partially dead. I didn't run the MH's at all yesterday just to give them a chance to better acclimate and today I only ran them for 4-5 hours. The 10 frags all seem ok so far although 2 are a little bleached from shipping and may not recover. The larger colony was browned out but after only a few hours a couple of the tips started to bleach.

All frags were placed on my sand bed which is about 35" under my CV 10K bulbs. It was suggested to me that maybe I got some of the bad CV bubls which could be putting out too much UV and damaging the corals. All my other established corals are doing great but it just seems new additions have a really hard time acclimating to my lighting.

The bulbs are almost a year old and I plan on ordering some CV 14K bubls next week.

[reefrunner69]

What wattage are these?

I find it unlikely that you would not experience a problem until now, what other corals do you have? I also think that under 35" of water it would be Ok, it could be a combo of the age and maybe UV.

[jamal-188]

They are 250w bubls... I also doubt the bad bulb theory but I don't know what else may be the problem. I have a few frogspawns, alverpora, 3 different brains, couple acros, monti cap, scroll coral, xmas tree, xenia, several bunches of star polyps, various other polyps, 2 toadstools, a kenya tree coral, cabbage leather, a few green sinularia's, bubble coral, 15 or so acro frags and the big acro colony I recently purchased. All my corals seem to be ok but I just seem to have a tough time acclimating some things. Most of the various polyps I bring home must be put in the shade and gradually moved out or theyjust never open up. My scroll coral also didn't seem to happy when placed on the substrate so I moved him under a cave for a few days and worked him back out.

I"m just not sure why some of my acros bleach on the tips.....I would figure that in this deep of a tank they would be fine. Maybe it is a combo like you said...it's just kind of frustrating when I seem to be doing things right and I still encounter problems. I'll take a few more pics to see what you guys think.

BTW, on several occasions I've picked up loose mushroom/ricordia at work that fall of rocks and I cannot get them to live in my tank. They just melt away or disapear altogether....maybe this is involved somehow with lighting?

[jamal-188]

Here are a few pics of some new additions that appear to be bleaching after less than 8 hours of bulb time. Not all of my new additions are bleaching.

[jamal-188]

On a good note, the first piece that posted about a few days ago is starting to get it's color back after being placed on the bottom. (first pic)


Here is a pic of a few of the stalks of the brown colony I got. The center part was dead but didn't appear to be spreading after a few days in our holding tank. I got it for almost free so I couldn't refuse figuring it would eventually color up under some better lighting and I could frag off the good sections.

The Second picture is my favorite piece!!! Luckily it appears to be doing great. It was from the original set that I place 1/2 up the tank. I decided to lower it a few days ago when the others started to bleach hoping this awesome piece would be fine.

[HoopsGuru]

I think it could be the UV. Your type of acclimation by shortening the photoperiod would normally work, but in this case would probably not. The old batch of CV bulbs not only were emitting elevated UV, it was also of a different spectrum (UVA maybe instead of UVB maybe?...something close to that). So, this is almost a double shock to sensitive corals. By only shortening the photoperiod, this does not protect them from getting, albeit a shortened, blast of the UV spectrum in question. The better option would probably be the window screen method of acclimation or similar, in which the corals receive a reduce amount of light over a normal photoperiod. This is increased every few days. To my knowledge, this pretty much resolves the issue (other than purchasing the newer, better manufactured bulbs)....and all the complaints I read previously involved utilizing the shortened photoperiod method or none at all. HTH.

[ellisz]

I have a set of 250 10K bulbs that are supposedly the bad ones. There is a noticable difference in the interior makeup. I can post a pic later of the good bulbs I have and the bad bulbs, if wanted.

[jamal-188]

Originally Posted by ellisz

I have a set of 250 10K bulbs that are supposedly the bad ones. There is a noticable difference in the interior makeup. I can post a pic later of the good bulbs I have and the bad bulbs, if wanted.

That would be great if you wouldn't mind. As I said I"m not convinced this is the sole problem or even the problem at all...many other things could be causing this.

[jamal-188]

Originally Posted by HoopsGuru

The better option would probably be the window screen method of acclimation or similar, in which the corals receive a reduce amount of light over a normal photoperiod. This is increased every few days. To my knowledge, this pretty much resolves the issue (other than purchasing the newer, better manufactured bulbs)....and all the complaints I read previously involved utilizing the shortened photoperiod method or none at all. HTH.

I got some screen today and only put one layer on....two layers blocked almost all the light, I think it was some special sun blocking screen I got. I also have some new 14K bubls on the way thanks to Darin , and a 400w retro to go on my evergoing 200g project!

[ellisz]

Here is the pic. Not a whole lot of difference but some. The ends are the most noticable.

[reefrunner69]

Your showing the difference between the old design and the new design, IMO, the new design has alot more color to it, you cannot tell a "good" one, prior to the redesign, from a bad one. There was a batch that got sleeves that were too thin, the interior design has/had little to do with the problems experienced by some.

[ellisz]

ok, I bought the retro kit used and the bulbs I am currently using replaced the other ones shown. The guy told me he had UV issues with the first set.

Other than that I know nothing

[reefrunner69]

Other than that I know nothing

Sorry if I sounded like that, I was just trying to point out that there were "good" CV bulbs before the redesign.

[ellisz]

Ahh, I understand. I am using CV 10K and I love the set up so I definately like Coralvue stuff