The destructive power of an unshielded MH

S

Serk

The last week or so I've noticed many of the SPS on the right side of my tank bleaching in a very odd pattern, almost a stripe across 'em. The leather's on that side weren't doing too well either. I credited the event to the fact that I hadn't put fresh carbon in the system in too long, and replaced the carbon a few days ago.

It kept getting worse. Today I popped the hood, and I think I found the problem (At least I hope I did!):

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Looks like the unshielded UV from that lil' crack in the bulb was killing my corals... The hood's up now, as soon as the remnants of that bulb cools off enough to be removed, I'll replace it with an emergency 5600 K bulb I've got laying around, and hope for the best...

I'll let ya'll know if that helps, but dang, if that's it, it don't take much unshielded light from a MH to start doing bad damage!
 
Ughhhh,


Hope things pull thru. Actually increasing your flow may help the corals. They UV likely caused some cellular apoptosis and free radical formation. The flow in help the corals increase their repiratory capacity. Be careful not to blast them with too much laminar flow. Do you have any protective glass? That would help shield alot of UV.
 
Ryan - Thanks for the tips, I just modified the scripts that control the modified MJ's on that side of the tank to go from a normal 35% chance of being turned off, to only a 15% chance of being turned off, to increase flow and turbulence on that side... (I love being a geek! :) )

Jaguar - My hood is technically WAY too low to have metal halides in it. I've known this for some time, and just hafta be careful with it. About once every 2 years water splashes up on the hot bulb and cracks one. In the past (This is the 3rd cracked bulb in 6 years) when it cracked it was very... obvious shall we say, and I removed/replaced the cracked bulb immediately. This one was more of a "stealth crack" and I evidently didn't notice it was cracked for some time...

Someday I'll be able to build a system from the ground up properly, but for now I've just gotta make what I've got work as best I can...
 
For what it's worth, the bleaching seems to have stopped. I don't know that I could say it's receding, but it's stopped at least.

But Ugh! I forgot just how ugly 6500K bulbs are! They're definitely BRIGHT, but Ugh-Lee!
 
hey Brian...I think I still have an old used 10k bulb. N ot sure of your wattage, but this one is a 175w. if that will help you out any, let me know.
 
Tony - My MH's are all 175's, so I'd definitely be interested in it... PM me for details, if ya' don't mind dropping it off on your way home from work that'd be excellent, or I could always take a bike ride out your way, whatever's easier for you...

Thanks!
 
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