Placement of light (almost bleached) frags

[Obi-dad]

I received a few frags, 2 of which are almost white. Should these be placed high up under the lights, or lower to start with, given that they are so light in color? The frags have a hint of blue to them, not completely white, and they still have polyps.

I have gotten colored frags and browned-out frags before from various sources and put them at different levels in the tank, I am just not sure what to do with ones that are so light in color. I have Iwasaki 15k 175w MH, with 4 T5s (if you are not familiar with the Iwasaki 15k, it is a white bulb with high PAR, not blue as the 15k would inidicate). PAR at 7" under the lights is 600 according to the club Quantum PAR meter, sandbed is over 200. I have good acro growth and coloration of my existing acros (so please don't post the typical 'what are your parameters' question - this concerns frags I received from a vendor).

[rleechb]

Very low in the tank. When I receive frags that are bleached, I keep them on the sandbed until they brown out a little bit, then start to raise them up slowly.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8287764#post8287764 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Obi-dad
I I have Iwasaki 15k 175w MH, with 4 T5s (if you are not familiar with the Iwasaki 15k, it is a white bulb with high PAR, not blue as the 15k would inidicate).

Just a nit-pick: In Sanjay's tests, the Iwasaki is almost exactly 15K. It is what 15K indicates, unfortunately, most 15Ks are not.

[Obi-dad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8288714#post8288714 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Just a nit-pick: In Sanjay's tests, the Iwasaki is almost exactly 15K. It is what 15K indicates, unfortunately, most 15Ks are not.

I have read Sanjay's tests, that was what prompted me to get the bulb (switched from XM10k). I was just mentioning about it being white appearing since most '15k' bulbs are blue, and some like the XM15k very low PAR - so didn't want people to assume I have low light in the tank.

[Obi-dad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8287799#post8287799 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rleechb
Very low in the tank. When I receive frags that are bleached, I keep them on the sandbed until they brown out a little bit, then start to raise them up slowly.

I was wondering if they should go high, since if they have expelled most of their zooxanthellae they are already getting less food from the zoox than normal, and wondered if more light would drive the zoox harder to get more photosynthesis going. I had placed them low when I got them as I do with all frags for photo-acclimation.

[J_Geisinger000]

obi-dad

how long have you had the 175 watt iwasaki's
and did you notice any better color and growth yet

I currently am running 175watt 15k xm's
and Im thinking of switching to the iwasaki's?

[Obi-dad]

I do not notice any difference in growth (but I am not measuring, just guessing), both have good growth. The corals are coloring up a little better (but the coloration was pretty good under the XMs also), one that was completely brown now has green and purple colors coming out (but this may have colored up eventually under the XMs so is not definitive).

The biggest difference to me is the look of the tank. the XMs had a slight yellow/purple tint, while the Iwasaki's have a slight blue tint. When I had one of each in the tank it was so obvious to me that I will be staying with the Iwasakis in the future - at least until the corals grow out. Once they get so big that they are crowding the space in my tank, I will probably switch to a 20k bulb to slow the growth and increase the color.

[J_Geisinger000]

I think im going to place an order for 2 of them and give them a try

where did you order yours from?