Originally Posted by
MUCHO REEF
Good discussion Wy Renegade.
Your questions were,
"Besides the obvious bleaching of a coral, what are some of the signs that indicate that a polyp is receiving too much light?"
If we are speaking solely of zoas and palys here, the quickest and most obvious and
tell-tale sign/indicator, is near instant or slightly delayed polyp retraction. Zoas and palys are highly adaptive to most any kind of lighting, I agree. Yes, they will even survive under PC lighting alone, with shallow dwellers always being placed higher on ones reef. I kept a tank full of zoas and palys under PC's alone. So how can the reaction be delayed instead of instataneously? Zoas and palys are photosynthetic or ( zooxanthellate) creatures, which derive their energy from sun light or tank light for nutritional uptake. Some corals are azooxanthellate, ( those which thrive in darkness). Delayed retraction as a result of intense lighting in some zoas and palys can happen as they are well aware that they must remain fully expanding to feed whether it's via photosynthesis or to exhibit a prey capture response to food through their intestinal cavity, while others will feed on zooplankton. I have read and heard some say that the expulsion of wasteful zooxanthellae is a sure sign of pre bleaching or light shock. On the contrary, not always true, they will expel under perfectly normal conditions for absolutely no reason at all. Some will even do it if you place your hand in the water, move them around or briefly block their light source. We've all, or should have seen this if you are or have kept an abundance of zoa and palys. So I would say retracion, whether instant or slightly delayed, is what I'd look for.
"What is the overall time frame during which this can and does occur? Minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months? "
It can vary, most often instantly, but for sure within 24 hours to 48, you will see signs of not only retraction, but the polyps will often begin to shrink with rippled stems. A friend of mind had dual 400 watt HQI's or was it MH's, I can't remember. He didn't acclimate them and placed them low, mid tank and high on the reef. I mean he had the most stunning color I have ever seen. I mean the expansion on most were craazy. But just 48 hours later, he experienced more retracted polyps then those expanding. This is where acclimation with screening would have helped dramatically.
I firmly believe in light acclimation for any new arrivals with the first day being total and complete darkness. If you can cover the entire face and sides of your tank, that is even better. On the second day, I have always, I mean always recommended and practiced running my actinics only and only for half of the photoperiod. On the 3rd day, beginning with a 3 hour dawn, followed by 4 hours of daylight without actinics, then the final 3 or 4 hours of dusk with actinics only, and I have never, I mean never had any issues. On the 4th day, just follow your normal photoperiod and you'll be surprised. One caveat here, one should always, always inquire of the previous lighting conitions, type, wattage, k value, height of placement and lenght under that lighting scheme and in the tank itself. It is vital to know, even with proper acclimation, and if these polyps were aquacultured with a few T5 bulbs, and you placed them high in your system under Dual HQI 250 watt 10 k's, you are going to have some issues. This is a prime case in which at lease 6 layers of screening must be utilized. Or at best, raising your canopy or lighting source with slow and gradual lowering back to normal. When I use to sell and ship all over the country, and whenever the buyers followed this process, they too never had an issue. More often than not, if packed, shipped and cultured properly, most polyps will expand within minutes to a few hours in complete darkness.
I hope this helps.
Mucho Reef