Too much light?!

So yesterday was the first day with the new 6 bulb set up. 3 actinic and 3 10 k white. Sunday the tank only had two lights all day, because my husband was building the fixture for the other four. Yesterday I slowly turned all the lights on, two at a time, in about 10 minute increments. I noticed that my pagoda never fully extended, and today its quite a bit paler. By the end of the day, my Blastomussa had covered its self and both anemonies tucked themselves in. Along with my trumpets, who had had also go "to bed" earlier than usual. Was it just too much light to fast? Or too much light completely? Right now, all I have on are the 2 actinic and 2 whites. I have moved the blasto lower, it looks much happier than it did yesterday. But the Pagoda and pavona both look just as miserable.



this is from this morning.

it is very possible that there was to much new light added at once.i have seen overe lighting from when i changed out to many old lights from one of my T-5 fixtures.one of the tell tale signs is retracted tissue and then expulsion of zooxanthelae wich is seen by loss of color or bleaching.not to worry as corals are usualy resiliant in these situations especialy when caught early.you are on the right track on keeping a few bulbs on and increasing slowly but steadily.when adding another light on try it out for a few hours then up the amount of time every other day until it is on as long as the rest then add another bulb for a couple hours and repeat.

So you think my babies will come back? I never thought I would love my corals more than the fish....

yes things should tur out alright in the end.i forgot to mention the old screen technique.you basicaly use a screen or better yet egg crate to defuse or bllock some of the light or you can elevate the light itself as this greatly reduces lighting.

My pagoda is finally starting to come back. The last of the burned corals to make an appearance. And I am using all 6 T5's.

NICE! good to hear that the little guy started to turn around for the better.some corals take longer than others...alot longer sometimes and now that you are using all the T-5s you can really have a variety of corals by placing them in apropriate areas of lighting and flow.

was it that purple pagoda that is in the picture up top?nice piece.

Yeah it's a purple pagoda. One of my favorites. Still struggling with my elegance though.