Lighting and shadows

[tee89]

Hi R2R folks,

Currently im running my 35g Waterbox on one AI 16 HD Prime. Tanks about 8 months in now and i added 3 sps frags [1 poci 1 digi 1 birdsnest]. I noticed the polyps are not open under the stalk and base of the coral frags. I believe this is because of shadowing. Should I be concerned about this? Should I consider adding another AI HD for more spread? Parameters are stable, only issue I ran into was my dkh dropped from 9.8 to 9 when I did my water change today, so not sure if this caused some stress. thank you

 

[T-J]

More lighting isn't going to hurt, and it will help eliminate shadows if that's your concern.

Shadowing will affect your corals. The underside of many of my corals have minimal or no polyps whatsoever. Shadowing within the coral itself will also be an issue as they grow.
Are these corals in danger of immediate death from this? No. Mine continue to grow without any issues.

I'd just keep an eye on it and see if the area starts to die off past the shadowed spots.

Again, more light isn't a bad idea if you feel you need it. You can also just add some LED bars to help with lighting.

 

[tee89]

More lighting isn't going to hurt, and it will help eliminate shadows if that's your concern.

Shadowing will affect your corals. The underside of many of my corals have minimal or no polyps whatsoever. Shadowing within the coral itself will also be an issue as they grow.
Are these corals in danger of immediate death from this? No. Mine continue to grow without any issues.

I'd just keep an eye on it and see if the area starts to die off past the shadowed spots.

Again, more light isn't a bad idea if you feel you need it. You can also just add some LED bars to help with lighting.

thanks TJ, I decided to get a small strip of LED. i went with the fluval marine 3.0 led strip, planning on using it at a lower intensity and supplement. Hope this works. appreciate your input.