Possibly your exposures are causing minor bleaching events.
The simplified version of how I understood one type of bleaching was that if a coral got more light than it was used to, the zooxanthelea would produce too much O2 causing a potential burning of coral tissue. It would then expel zooxanthelae in order to protect itself.
A possible parallel might be found with Zeo's Spur2 and Pocci-stilo-glo which for reasons possibly only known to the Zeo guys also causes the expulsion of Zooxanthelae.
When somebody inquired of the Zeo forum as to whether this "unnatural" forcing out of zooxanthelae wasn't unhealthy for the corals, I think it was Meso who explained that the periodic reduction in Zoox lead to older cells being expelled and new more efficient cells being produced thus allowing for a smaller more effective population to do the job of Photosynthesis.
This population also requires less input to serve and maintain leaving more for growth reproduction colour production etc.
Obviously the fewer Zoos allows any colour to be seen better allowing colours to 'pop'.
Thinking about it, neap low tides occur every 2 weeks (I think) which is about how often one is supposed to add Spur2.
Interesting coincidence? Maybe?
Maybe a similar thing is happening with your corals under a moderate(and actually similar to natural) stressor, leading to healthier, brighter corals, even under your moderate light conditions.
I hope that this makes sense, I think it ties in with what you've been saying.
Once again thanks for this interesting and more challenging thread, and your observations.
The simplified version of how I understood one type of bleaching was that if a coral got more light than it was used to, the zooxanthelea would produce too much O2 causing a potential burning of coral tissue. It would then expel zooxanthelae in order to protect itself.
A possible parallel might be found with Zeo's Spur2 and Pocci-stilo-glo which for reasons possibly only known to the Zeo guys also causes the expulsion of Zooxanthelae.
When somebody inquired of the Zeo forum as to whether this "unnatural" forcing out of zooxanthelae wasn't unhealthy for the corals, I think it was Meso who explained that the periodic reduction in Zoox lead to older cells being expelled and new more efficient cells being produced thus allowing for a smaller more effective population to do the job of Photosynthesis.
This population also requires less input to serve and maintain leaving more for growth reproduction colour production etc.
Obviously the fewer Zoos allows any colour to be seen better allowing colours to 'pop'.
Thinking about it, neap low tides occur every 2 weeks (I think) which is about how often one is supposed to add Spur2.
Interesting coincidence? Maybe?
Maybe a similar thing is happening with your corals under a moderate(and actually similar to natural) stressor, leading to healthier, brighter corals, even under your moderate light conditions.
I hope that this makes sense, I think it ties in with what you've been saying.
Once again thanks for this interesting and more challenging thread, and your observations.
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