LPS Bleaching after MH bulb change

[FarmerTy]

So, wanted to pick the collective brain of the ARC.

I replaced my 250w Reeflux 12k bulb with an identical bulb after 1 year of usage about 1 month ago. All my LPS have been suffering bleaching (softies and SPS are fine) on their upper surfaces that are exposed to the light directly and then slowly the entire coral will fade in color, even along the sides that do not get light directly.

I'm assuming that is due to the decrease of PAR over the lifetime of the old bulb and then when you replace it in a year with a brand spankin' new bulb, a temporary light shock is bound to happen unless you use window screens to slowly acclimate the coral to the brighter intensity.

I'm kind of answering my own question as to the bleaching, I was just more curious about those that have experienced this, how long does it usually take to recover from this light intensity bleaching? Is there anything I can do to expedite this process? Jake at River City Aquatics told me to make sure to feed during this time of recovery since they don't have zooxanthallae to help garner nutrition. I have already decreased the photoperiod of the MH's from 6 to 4 hrs. Should I also move the bleached corals to a more shaded area of the tank? And if so, when should I start acclimating them back to the higher lighting? <---When I see recovery of zooxanthallae?

Thank you for any input. Next time I will aim for acclimating the corals but since I am new to MH and this was my first bulb I replaced, I got a good lesson in doing ample research before changing anything within my tank system.

[+mcallahan]

I'm torn on moving them b/c you want the corals to acclimate to the new bulb. Since you've dialed back your photo period, I'd leave them and feed them.

[Timfish]

I'm torn on moving them b/c you want the corals to acclimate to the new bulb. Since you've dialed back your photo period, I'd leave them and feed them.

+1. The times I've had problems with bleaching I'm guessing it took about 3 - 4 weeks for color to be noticably improving and 2-4 months to "fully" color up. And I haven't bothered feeding them but this is one of those "Do as I say not as I do" things I've seen a Green Star Polyp come back much greener so sometimes it's a good thing. Several years ago I saw a monti in a friends tank that never colored up but had doubled in size since the bleaching event, I can only guess that there was enough stuff in the tank for it to eat without needing the zooanthellea.