Montipora question

[Demogarr]

I have had this montipora for about a year now, and now I am a little worried. I have it right under 4 vho lights, and over the year it has slowly anchored itself onto the rock where I put it and has started branching out nicely (for being under vho's) Now the area on the base is bleaching or not extending polyps in this region. This also happens to be the area where very little light hits it, but it has never not extended polyps here before. It is the part of the base that is shaded by the rest of the growing frag. My question: is this normal, as they grow and shade out parts of their own body do they lose polyps in this region? The rest of the coral is doing good, polyps extended. I accidently knocked off a branch while scraping algae, and it is already growing polyps over the damaged region. Maybe I need to replace my lights, they do not seem as brite as they used to be. They are about 10 months old.
Anyway, thanks in advance!!
Alan:santa:

[mojoreef]

Hey alan most of the corals I have have lost the polups on thier bases, I would think this to be normal. take a look and make sure it does not start to climb the stock though. A normal situation would be that the base still has a bit of color to it. (although they can just bleach out completly). As per your lights thier are a few different ideas on a VHO's life span. anywhere from 12 months to 16 so I would say your close no mater what.

[Demogarr]

Yeah, I am about to start replacing the lights one at a time, one every week or two so as not to shock them too much. It kind of made sense that there would be no polyps on the underside, as there is no light, I just wanted to make sure. I will keep tabs on it to make sure it does not spread up the stalk.
Alan