How do I know when my corals start to reach for light?

duff0712 · Oct 7, 2015

I am still new to the reefing game and I am trying to learn as much as I can. I believe most of my coral are doing just fine (acans and mushrooms), except my yuma, but I have been seeing a lot of conversations about coral reaching for light. My tank is taller than most and my lighting isn't top notch, but regardless, for what I have I think I am pretty well off.

I was mainly wondering what an acan and mushroom/yuma would look like if it was reaching for light? I can assume what happens when they get too much light which would be shriveling and bleaching, but since I have no basis because I am new, I am not exactly sure what a purely healthy and non-healthy coral looks like to compare. I don't want to confuse a happily extended acan/mushroom for one reaching for light and compromise its happiness! Or confuse an extending coral for one being plump and happy.

Pictures would be awesome, but any info on this is welcome

Kinda off topic if anyone would like to diagnose my Yuma problems:
My Yuma was doing extremely well for a week. It wasn't more than a few inches from the sand bed in probably low-med flow and it was extremely extended. I got one of the chinese mars aqua LED and was playing around with it over my tank. I was adjusting the intensity of it (quickly to see how bright it was) and right as I started doing that I noticed my Yuma was acting strange. I left the LED on for like 2 days max and took it off to go back to my Fluval LED and t5 combo. My Yuma has gotten extremely white losing almost all of its purple (still have orange "bubbles" on it) and has shrunken significantly. I have moved it to the sandbed and hope it will make a recovery. Do you think I might have shocked it when I was playing around with the Mars Aqua LED settings? I will post before and after pictures tomorrow after I wake up.

Thanks for any info and help!

saltyphish · Oct 7, 2015

I keep my Yuma in low flow and low/moderate light. What are your parameters? Mainly nitrates and phosphates? Mine likes a dirty tank. I also target feed it pieces of squid every once in a while. Pretty neat watching it and my plate eat food. It was even nice enough to give me 2 babies right away.

duff0712 · Oct 7, 2015

saltyphish said:
I keep my Yuma in low flow and low/moderate light. What are your parameters? Mainly nitrates and phosphates? Mine likes a dirty tank. I also target feed it pieces of squid every once in a while. Pretty neat watching it and my plate eat food. It was even nice enough to give me 2 babies right away.

NH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
PH: 8.0
KH: 8.5
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78
PO4: not 100% sure just because I am bad at reading the seachem test. I believe it is around .02 but I am not sure.
Cal/mag: haven't tested for recently so I will try to get those numbers today.

I feed my fish large chunks of a frozen mixture of food daily and pour a small amount of the finer chunks in too. I also dose home cultured phytoplankton daily. My acans seem plump and polyps are always super extended when the lights go out.

When I first got the Yuma

I moved it into one my rocks a few days later. Looked like this for like a week.

Now it looks like this.

My other mushroom has looked like this the whole time. Now I know it is a different kind but other than a little bit slower flow rate they were in the same range of lighting.

duff0712 · Oct 7, 2015

Won't let me edit for some reason BUT

Calcium: 420
Mag: 1300

saltyphish · Oct 7, 2015

Water might be too clean with 0 nitrates. They like dirtier water. Try spot feeding it.

duff0712 · Oct 7, 2015

saltyphish said:
Water might be too clean with 0 nitrates. They like dirtier water. Try spot feeding it.

I might try feeding my fish twice a day too, they might like it haha. I try to do spot feeding twice a week. I need to get a better coral specific food/powder/paste. I am having a hard time with keeping frozen food on the corals long enough.