Corals not fully opening

[SaltySpitoon_2425]

Recently I’ve been messing with the intensity of the new light(Noo-Psyche K7 Pro 3) that I got for my tank and I stressed out all of my corals(2 LPS and 5 soft) except for one. My corals haven’t been fully opening for about a week now. Some that open partially close back up after a short period of time. They were all doing fine when I had the white leds at 15%(these only stay on for 2 hours) and the royal blue, light blue and violet at 50%(These stay on for the full schedule.) I run my lights from 8am to 8pm which includes a 2hr ramp up and ramp down period. I currently have my royal blue, light blue and violet leds at 45% and I increased the time I have the white leds on from 2hrs to 3hrs and my corals are not happy. When I made changes to my lights I did not make gradual changes and I think that’s why my corals are stressed. There also seems to be algae growing on some of my corals, my tank has been cycled since mid March and it has quite a bit of algae growing in it. My Zoa’s and toadstool look a bit taller than they did before, like they are stretching upward, so I’m wondering if I should put my lights back to how I used to have them and if so, should I do it gradually and how gradually? The pictures I have attached are of my current lighting schedule.

 

[TX_REEF]

simple answer - yes, change the lights back to where you had them before. don't try to fix what isn't broken :) soft corals and LPS need far less intense light than most people think. You could switch it back all at once, gradual change for light is more important when turning lights up, down shouldn't be an issue. If after a week or 2 the corals still aren't happy, let's take a look at water parameters and troubleshoot together.

 

[SaltySpitoon_2425]

simple answer - yes, change the lights back to where you had them before. don't try to fix what isn't broken :) soft corals and LPS need far less intense light than most people think. You could switch it back all at once, gradual change for light is more important when turning lights up, down shouldn't be an issue. If after a week or 2 the corals still aren't happy, let's take a look at water parameters and troubleshoot together.

Okay, should I turn up the royal blue and light blue leds to 50% then wait a few days and then turn up the violet leds to 50%? Also, I am going to be receiving two fish that I ordered on Thursday and after I acclimate them I need to turn the lights off for at least 6 hours, that won’t stress out my corals right?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What size is the tank?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Do you happen to have photos of your tank and of the corals? I feel like a photo will help out!

 

[SaltySpitoon_2425]

What size is the tank?

20 gallons

 

[SaltySpitoon_2425]

Do you happen to have photos of your tank and of the corals? I feel like a photo will help out!

Yeah, I will post some photos right now

 

[SaltySpitoon_2425]

The first picture is my green toadstool, second is green star polyps, third is a duncan, fourth is my Zia’s, fifth is a sympodium, sixth is an my acan and the last one is my green sinularia

 

[SaltySpitoon_2425]

 

[PharmrJohn]

simple answer - yes, change the lights back to where you had them before. don't try to fix what isn't broken :) soft corals and LPS need far less intense light than most people think. You could switch it back all at once, gradual change for light is more important when turning lights up, down shouldn't be an issue. If after a week or 2 the corals still aren't happy, let's take a look at water parameters and troubleshoot together.

Agreed.

Also, if you increase the intensity, it's gonna increase algae growth. If I missed it I apologize, but what was the purpose of increasing your lights?

 

[SaltySpitoon_2425]

Agreed.

Also, if you increase the intensity, it's gonna increase algae growth. If I missed it I apologize, but what was the purpose of increasing your lights?

I actually didn’t increase my lights, I decreased them because for a day my hammer coral( I ended up taking it out of my tank because it wasn’t recovering from the loss of a few polyps due to it falling off of the frag plug that it was on when I cut off the bottom of the frag plug) wasn’t fully extending like normal and I thought it looked a bit white, so I thought it was getting too much light. I first decreased my blues and violets from 50% to 35% and I decreased my whites from 15% to 10%. Then a day or two later I decreased them again, I changed my blues and violets from 35% to 25% since my corals were still not happy. Now I have my blues and violets at 45% and my whites at 15% and I increased the duration of the whites from 2hrs to 3hrs.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I actually didn’t increase my lights, I decreased them because for a day my hammer coral( I ended up taking it out of my tank because it wasn’t recovering from the loss of a few polyps due to it falling off of the frag plug that it was on when I cut off the bottom of the frag plug) wasn’t fully extending like normal and I thought it looked a bit white, so I thought it was getting too much light. I first decreased my blues and violets from 50% to 35% and I decreased my whites from 15% to 10%. Then a day or two later I decreased them again, I changed my blues and violets from 35% to 25% since my corals were still not happy. Now I have my blues and violets at 45% and my whites at 15% and I increased the duration of the whites from 2hrs to 3hrs.

Oooooh!!! I guess I misread that exceedingly well, lol!!!!