How do I know if lighting is too strong?

[Chrysus]

Just out of curiosity, how do I tell if my light is too strong? I see most people here running their lighting at fairly low intensity. I have a Kessil a360we over the IM 25gal lagoon. Over the first couple of months it was set to max intensity, and has been there pretty much ever since. It is set fairly white. How do I know if this is too high? It is stocked with pretty basic stuff, but I would like to add more corals as it is looking pretty bare right now.

Coral list:
- Zoas
- Acans
- Kenya Trees
- GSP
- Scoly
- Leather (best polyp extension when directly under the light)

And then NPS stuff...
- Dendro
- Duncan

Inverts:
- Bubbletip Anemone (in the past, grew huge very quickly)
-Long tentacle anemone (current, not as happy but I believe this to be due to the sand bed)
- Rock anemone

What should I look for to know if the lighting is too intense?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Consistency is key. If your corals have acclimated to the particular settings that you have in place now, i'd leave it be. Unless your corals look upset or are bleaching, no need to change it :) A par meter would be best to measure how much like you're putting out though :)

 

[Daniel Waters]

I doubt one kessil A360w is giving you too much light unless you have it mounted very close to the water. Their wide angle lens does a good job of providing a nice even spread and isn't as bad about hot spots that some puck style LEDs can create.

Your list of corals you are keeping are not high ligh intensity corals. Corals are pretty adaptive, though, so I don't think you necessarily need to turn your light intensity down. With the kessil, I'd pick a color you like and leave it, so if you don't like the whiter color you are using, you could certainly adjust that also if you like.

Some signs of too much light...corals may look pale or bleach or might just look ticked off (not extending or staying closed). I've found that many corals like acans can look totally different depending on how much light they receive. So an acan might not necessarily look unhappy, but it might color up differently under lower light versus higher light. That's part of the fascination of this hobby. Seeing a coral color up after several months can be addictive! Zoas are pretty adaptable as well. I've had some hate higher light and I've had some that will handle as much as you give them.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If the corals have acclimated leave it blasting. Most corals take a lot more light than folks realize.

Bleaching , shriveling , recession are sometimes indicators. But only sometimes.

 

[Chrysus]

Sounds good, thank you all! I figured that if they were doing well there was no need to change, but figured I should check.