corals shrinking under new light

[hansolian]

My tank is 2 years old. Last month I broke my new power quad 18 inch 96 watt lamp. My corals sat in regular incandest light for 2 weeks while I waited for a replacement bulb. Like an idiot, I blasted them when I got it. My star polps shrank back, new growth does not even come out. Yellow polyps look not fully extended. Etc. So I reduced the light cycle from 12 to 10 and even partially shaded the light in my hood for 2 weeks. Still not looking there best. then I took the shade off allowing full light but still no good. My zooanthoids haven't opened up in weeks. Any help? Should I drop in some iodine? Thats all I can think of...

THANK YOU

[tinyreef]

two weeks of incandescent and you didn't get any bad algae? : i'm thinking there's other issues here. the symbiont algae should have adjusted by now (two weeks after new quad bulb).

 

have you checked you tank readings? do a wc if you're unsure. that does an inherent dose across the board if you're unsure about dosing in general.

 

btw this is a good lesson, always keep spares. i usually keep my 'old' switched out bulbs until i switch them again. in a pinch an 'old' bulb is better than nothing. only had to invoke that safety net a couple of times (cheap 96w pc bulbs @#$#%!).

[hansolian]

Thanks for the heads up tiny!

 

I suspect that you are right. I think I over did it with some iodine...Does that shrink and #### off corals? Oh and I have a really pretty flourescent green algae on my glass. I would like it but it is getting hard to see thru...Its hard to even scrape off, my snails hardly make a dent in it. Cept for my big turbo snail, he scrapes little bits off after working at it for a while. Any comments would be helpful. Thanks.

[hansolian]

So any suggestions on how to reverse the damage caused by new lights plus iodie over dose??

 

I'm thinking water changes...?

 

ANd the green algae on the glass...I'm stumped anyone know???

 

My tank was just starting to look great, now Ive been set back from having a beautiful tank, any advice would be great.

[tinyreef]

wc's is really the only quick way to remove the excess iodine that i know of. how are your corals doing? what else do you have in the tank? what kind of filtration are you running?

 

i'd suggest you scrape off and remove the hair or slime or whatever algae that is growing. not necessarily all of it but most as it may be exuding some nasties into the water. algae can be as aggressive or more so than corals ime. run some carbon and floss if you do decide to 'prune' the algae back. as they do 'bleed' into the water as you rip them out.

 

i have that fluorescent green algae too, in my new office 15g. i kinda like the way it looks. it seems to prefer hi-flow and hi-light. 'stubbly' and sparse growing tho, not 'mat-like', right?

 

btw i don't think it's entirely the light as the corals should have started to re-adjust to the 'new' light level.