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TheBChamp

Button polyps not liking me..

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6 Comments
by
TheBChamp
, 01-12-2010 at 10:24 AM (1148 Views)
Hey everyone.... just thought I would post this as I don't have too many reefing friends I can share information with. I bought my new lights about a month ago (6x T5's).. basically went from about 40 to 234 watts..
Anyways, my putton polyps were looking pretty nice before, and the first day I had the actinics on, but then started going downhill from there.. (have a pic on my profile)
I have tried moving them down and too the side, and now i am using something to shade some of the light for them.. The mushrooms seem to like the light better then they do.
Have the actinic 11 hours a day and daylights about 6 hours. Any suggestions?

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Updated 01-12-2010 at 12:23 PM by melev

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‎ Tank Entry

Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    They are adjusting from Normal Output (NO) 40w lighting to almost 6x as much light with High Output bulbs. If you had a PAR meter, the numbers would definitely show you the difference. Your corals will adapt, assuming water quality hasn't changed much. Button polyps (not zoanthids?) are hardy.

    Double check all water parameters. You might try a water change perhaps. And if you've moved the corals to the bottom of the tank, there isn't much more you can do.
  2. doomicon's Avatar
    I did a similiar change from PC to 8xT5HO, if you have everything moved to the bottom you can do one of two things. Hide em' or pull back even further on your 6 hour daylight. I ended up moving about three colonies to shaded parts of the tank (ie under big SPS shadow, pagoda cup etc), then slowly migrating them out into full light at the bottom. As of now one most are mid or upper.. one that reacted poorly is now about 8 inches below the surface and doing great. Just be patient 40w to 234w is a BIG change.
  3. Plantguy's Avatar
    Another trick I use is light screening. You can get various different sizes of mesh, so you can run the lights normal, but slowly change the mesh size larger, and allow more light through. I do the same thing when I change lamps on a system that I know have not been changed in a while. Just make sure its far enough away from the lamps that nothing melts!
  4. TheBChamp's Avatar
    Yeah ok thanks guys.. after having them shaded today they were even more closed up, so I will just be patient.
    As for my water parameters well ive always had nitrates in the tank.. like around 10 or 15ppm.. but I do weekly or biweekly water changes.. so nothing has really changed.. other then algae growing faster..
  5. Plantguy's Avatar
    Give us some more info on the setup, and gear you are running, we might have some suggestions to get that nitrate level down.
  6. TheBChamp's Avatar
    40 Gal
    6 T5's at about 234 watts
    About 30 lbs of live rock
    About 30 lbs of live sand


    I don't have a skimmer though.. spoted a nice hang on the back by reef octopus.. but its not free.. lol
    So yeah pretty simple really.. i should get another power head or something though.. I dont have enough flow I think.. I have a Koralia 3, and an MJ 1200 that I somewhat moded.. There is not enough circulation on the substrate.. I tried a few ways to play around with the power heads but it either not enough flow or the sand is goin everywhere and it makes dunes at the front.. lol