Can Metal Halid Lighting Kill Off Zoas?

[gwiley]

Awhile back i switched from using (2) 24watt 50/50 pc lights to a 20k 70w HQI. Since the switch all my zoas and hairy mushrooms began to show significant lose. All of my zoas have completly died off. However, all of my LPS corals (frogspawn, brains, blasto, acans) have shown positive growth. Is there anything else that could be affected my zoas and mushrooms? I should also mention that my ricordea have not been affected either.

 

[btldreef]

50/50 PCs to MHs is a huge jump. If you didn't acclimate correctly, the zoas may not have been able to adjust properly. I had zoas and a few mushrooms that couldn't even handle the transition from PCs to T5HOs.
But yes, something could also be eating the zoas.

 

[nissan577]

if nothing was eating the zoas before then how can they be eating them now???? did you add a rock or anything recently????
what you can do is with the remaining zoas and shrooms is move them to a shaded area where the light wont be so bright so they can recover. and within time move them to the light.

 

[jackri]

My mushrooms shriveled up big time switching to MH lighting. Now they grow like mad in the shade but don't like the full brunt of the lights. Some of the softies can really shrivel up from intense lighting.

 

[bang guy]

If you come out of a cave after a few days and into full sun you're going to be uncomfortable for a while. It doesn't mean the full sun is a bad thing, it just means you need to get used to it.

 

[gwiley]

thanks for all the input.
as far as anything eating them, I do not suspect there is anything in the aquarium that would eat them. I have not found any nudis in the tank, and have had this system for about 2 years now.
I recently tried adding new armor of god palys (reading that they prefer high intense light) to the tank a month ago. I acclimated them correctly and they still have not taken off. I will try and place them in a shaded area and see what happens.