HELP! Coral Dying! Only change was bulbs!

[yaleman]

I have had the same bulbs for about 8-10 months. They are 175watt, 14k metal halides. A couple of days ago, one of the bulbs exploded - I think one of the fish kicked water up at it. I changed all the bulbs to 175watt, 10k metal halides. Everything was starting to look pretty bad where the broken bulb was at, but now it looks even worse???!!! Alot of the coral looks like it's dying??? For example, I have a huge layout of green star polyps that have always been healthy and rapidly growing. They have not opened for days!!!! My elegance looks like it's almost dead and my stoni's don't look so hot aswell... aaaaaahhhhh!!!!

 

[reefnut]

Cut back the lighting a few hours... the corals need time to adjust to the new lights. Incease the lighting back to normal over the next few weeks. Also run some carbon in case there is something in the water from the bulb exploding.

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by yaleman
I have had the same bulbs for about 8-10 months. They are 175watt, 14k metal halides. A couple of days ago, one of the bulbs exploded - I think one of the fish kicked water up at it. I changed all the bulbs to 175watt, 10k metal halides. Everything was starting to look pretty bad where the broken bulb was at, but now it looks even worse???!!! Alot of the coral looks like it's dying??? For example, I have a huge layout of green star polyps that have always been healthy and rapidly growing. They have not opened for days!!!! My elegance looks like it's almost dead and my stoni's don't look so hot aswell... aaaaaahhhhh!!!!
Hmmm, I'm not a lighting expert in the least. But I'll try my hand here. I wonder if the different spectrum, going from 14k to 10k is the reason, not to mention the newer bulbs. I know that when I upgraded lighting, I placed 3 sheets of screening over the tank and took a sheet off every 3 days...that seemed to work fine. Maybe give your corals a "day off" tomorrow and leave them under just actinics (if you have them). The next day, start with the 3 sheets of screening (just regular window screen laid over the tank between the water and the mh lights). Take a sheet of screening off every 3 days after the halides go off.
I hope this helps...and that I made myself clear on what to do.

 

[reefnut]

That's a good idea...

 

[yaleman]

i turned off the lights and will try phasing in the new bulbs using screens. thanks!!!

 

[kainex]

my guess would be that you were using a SE metel halid, and when the bulb broke. It broke the outside glass first. This is were the UV filter is on SE bulbs. You stated that a fish may have splashed the bulb to cause it to break. That would lead me to beleive you have a open water tank. so you had no protection from UV rays when the outside bulb shatered. in short if you run a DE bulb with no filter or A SE bulb with the glass broke you will "FRY" your corals. this would be my guess. hope I'm wrong

 

[ejensen]

A guy at work had the same problem. Except he did not know until he got home. It is like, using a UV light to light up you tank. Well, he lost everything. Hopefully they weren't exposed too long.

 

[wattsupdoc]

Originally Posted by kainex
my guess would be that you were using a SE metel halid, and when the bulb broke. It broke the outside glass first. This is were the UV filter is on SE bulbs. You stated that a fish may have splashed the bulb to cause it to break. That would lead me to beleive you have a open water tank. so you had no protection from UV rays when the outside bulb shatered. in short if you run a DE bulb with no filter or A SE bulb with the glass broke you will "FRY" your corals. this would be my guess. hope I'm wrong
This is what happened unfortunately. And one of the risks involved with using HID lighting on an aquarium. It only takes a small crack for the UV radiation to leak. This happens when fixtures are not built with end of life technology built into the ballasts. If they had that built in then the lamp would shut off when it detected the crack. Splah gaurds should be placed between the bulb and the tank to help prevent this. An additional UV filter of some sorts would not be beneficial between the lamp and the tank as it would reduced the par value of the lighting in the tank.
Also this can burn human skin and eyes.

 

[reefnut]

I don't know if I'd agree with the UV burning the corals (or even damaging them)... I would be interest to know how long it ran w/o the outer bulb though. I can't see it causing damage unless it ran for an extended amount of time... this is just my opinion though.

 

[wattsupdoc]

HID lighting WILL burn you're skin and eyes if the outer lense is cracked. 2005 NEC codebook addresses this issue and requires end of life technology to be built into the ballasts. There have been instances where people in gyms have been exposed to this and have suffered from "sunburns" and eye irritations as a result. Not sure about the duration of exposure to them though. Why do you think that MH are such good PAR producers?

 

[reefnut]

I'm an electrician by trade so I'm familiar with the NEC codebook... although I have no idea what it says on this subject... I'll have to look it up. Time of exposure is what I would be most interested in.

 

[wattsupdoc]

Originally Posted by ReefNut
I'm an electrician by trade
Cool a fellow sparky!

Article 410.4.E.
410.73.F.5
I know what you're gonna say, neither of these address end of life technology.

But when I did my code update classes there was discussion on this. It may be in the NFPA or somewhere or it could be in the works for the 2008 NEC. :notsure: But there is specific references in those two articles regarding protection of (specifically) MH lamps. Leaking radiation is the cause behing this concern and end of life technology protects them. However, I'm not familiar with the type of MH luminaires utilized in this hobby. Electronic ballasts, from what I understand, are the only type capable of this technology. It is inherently important to protect these lamps from rupture. I too would be interested in knowing the duration of exposure.
Not trying to flame or fight here, just sharing experience.

Charlie

 

[reefnut]

Good information... most MH bulbs in the hobby are type R so they are not self-extinguishing.
Corals have a "natural sunscreen" that protects them from the suns UV Radiation. Odviously the amount of UVs greatly increase in an aquarium if the bulb breaks but they are naturally protected to a point. What that point is?? no idea. I would not encourage anyone to run a broken bulb or to run DE bulbs w/o a UV shield but at the same time I can't see a short exposure causing corals harm... again, opinion only.
This subject would be a good experiment for Bang Guy!!