IndyReefMan
Aquarium Advice Activist
For the past year, I have been running (2) 150w 20,000K MH DE Coralvue on my 72 gal bow reef. I supplement that with 130W 10,000K PC and 130W actinic and use them to create a dusk-to-dawn effect. The MH photoperiod is 10hrs/day. I decided to switch to (2) 150W 14,000K MH DE Phoenix to gain a little more PAR. I acclimated the 14,000K bulbs carefully with screens for a period of 4 weeks. Everything went fine. However, now that the screens have been removed, I can't keep the 14,000K phoenix bulbs on for any longer than about 3hrs/day without burning my corals. The LPS corals are all near the bottom of the tank and I have various species of Acropora, Montipora, and Pocillopora near the top. The MH bulbs are about 8 inches off of the water surface (that is as high as I can get them) which means that the closest corals are within about 15-16 inches from the lights (7 inches below the surface). The Montipora and a few of the Acropora suffer the most. When the lights are on for any longer than about 3-4 hrs/day, they start burning the tops facing the lights. What the heck is going on? How can 150W bulbs be burning Acro? Any suggestions? Am I doing something wrong? Any help or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.