monti and bta bleaching

[duffman8080]

I recently bought a few monti caps and green bta from a local reefer which have already started bleaching. I have 96W t5 fixture with dual 10k and true actinics over a 55gallon. I know they had been under MH so I placed them high in the tank. Is it possible they're acclimating to the light and will regain the xoenthalle or is my lighting simply insufficient? My tank is 9 months old and lightly stocked, all parameters are fine and I perform weekly water changes. The only thoughts I have would be the lighting or if my tests are inaccurate. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Stock:
small leather cabbage
gsp colony
2 kenya tree
small mushroom
false percula
purple fire fish (haven't seen in a while)

[jenglish]

It is possible that the lights will not support him. I guess I am a little confused on the lights. a 96 watt PC is the 36 inch bulb. So is it 2 bulbs over the tank or 4 65 watt 24 inch bulbs over the tank? Does the nem eat? has it attached? is it sticky? What kind of halides were they kept under? what do you have to create flow in the tank?

[Fat Tony]

Yeah, you need more lighting... I'm confused about the lighting as well. is the fixture a 3 or 4' fixture...or is it PC bulbs. There is very large difference in light output from the two different type of lights.

[crvz]

I'm also a little perplexed by your lighting. You could have four 24W T5 bulbs, but those are only 24" each. In any case, that's likely inadequate lighting, especially if they don't have individual reflectors. Could you tell us the brand and model of your light fixture?

[duffman8080]

sorry for the confusion, it is the sunpaq t5 HO light with individual reflectors. There are four 24W bulbs and its a 30" fixture (my tank is 30 X 18 X 24). I run the actinics for 13 hours and daylight for 12. This oddball shape makes it hard to find good light fixtures, also there is a center support that would melt under the MH. I know I could cut it out but living in Texas I am at the heat threshold just running what I have now (82 in summer, 78 right now). For flow I have a split mag 9.5 return, a koralia 3 and koralia 2 (I direct each return to one koralia to create random flow) I hope that helps clarify.

As for BTA, she eats and is still sticky so I'v been feeding twice a week. It likes the spot as it doesn't roam around and my clown seems to be hosting it.

[fours2many]

I run my daylight T-5 bulbs for only 3 hrs a day, and actinics for 12.
I have had T-5 lighting systems for years now and am in no way an expert. But I have beautiful colors and wonderful growth with this lighting schedule. T-5s can and do produce enough light to keep anything and everything under the sun.
I think that you need to cut back on your daylight time and your livestock will color up.

What bulbs are you running in your unit? The stock bulbs are 10k and 460nm, right? I would recommend changing one of the 10k to a 12 or 14 k bulb and the other to a 420nm.