Too much light??

[kipsix]

Is there such a thing as too much light? Can you actually give corals too much light?

[Rbacchiega]

Depending on the type of coral, yes. That's when you get into considering where in your tank you need to put the coral for it's lighting requirements ie, at the bottom, in the shade of some live rock etc.

[tang daddy]

you can cook any soft coral with too much light, even sps believe it or not....

It's called bleaching I have lost a few nice yuma's this way burnt a few species of sps like monti and deepwater.

[lorenz0]

i have bleached out a yuma from to much light. but it all depends on the coral. i know some of my mushrooms weren't to fond of my light upgrades and i had to have most of the bulbs turned off to aclimate them properly

[StirCrazy]

if you acclimate the coral to the new light properly, then no there is not such a thing as to much light, no matter what we do we will never come close to what the sun lays down on a reef.

If you bleach a coral don't throw it out as it will come back, but if you have proper water flow and use proper techniques to introduce your new light then you won't have a problem.

Steve

[Canadian]

Yes there is such a thing as "too much light." It is species dependent however. Photoinhibition is possible and varies dependent on the species of coral/zooxanthellae being investigated - essentially blasting corals with tons of light can be a waste of hydro. But excessive lighting can also produce some unique effects so "too much light" is a relative term depending upon your goals (growth, fluorescence, etc.)

Read here:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1

[Myka]

Agreed. No such thing as too much light, just poor acclimation practises.

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

if you acclimate the coral to the new light properly, then no there is not such a thing as to much light, no matter what we do we will never come close to what the sun lays down on a reef.

If you bleach a coral don't throw it out as it will come back, but if you have proper water flow and use proper techniques to introduce your new light then you won't have a problem.

Steve

[Reefer Rob]

Even Acropora can get too much light. If I try to go too long of a photo-period with 400w lights, some acros lighten, and stop growing...even with a long acclimation period.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Canadian

Yes there is such a thing as "too much light." It is species dependent however. Photoinhibition is possible and varies dependent on the species of coral/zooxanthellae being investigated - essentially blasting corals with tons of light can be a waste of hydro. But excessive lighting can also produce some unique effects so "too much light" is a relative term depending upon your goals (growth, fluorescence, etc.)

Read here:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1

ahh yes, a waist of money yes, but not to much light which will fry the coral, it will just stop using it.

so basicly you have said there is to much light but you are not in the context of this topic, we are not talking about "how much can I get away with and I don't want to use any extra hydro whatso ever"

but rather will to much light kill my corals, I re read the article you listed and a few others and not one of them is saying that the lights we are using in this hobby will kill our corals if they are properly adjusted to the light.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Reefer Rob

Even Acropora can get too much light. If I try to go too long of a photo-period with 400w lights, some acros lighten, and stop growing...even with a long acclimation period.

what kinda 400 watts you using? the Iwak (can't remember the spelling) had a tendency to lighten up corals, but I think it was from there spectrum not the intensity.

my reason for thinking this is my old light design put out 22% more PAR than the 400 Iwak but instead of it being at 6500K it was at 12300K.

Initialy things slowed down but after a week, my colors went deeper, growth exploded, in everything from mushrooms to SPS. I had to get rid of about 30lbs of live rock as my tank was being taken over by mushrooms.

Steve