ID and help

[TLeTourneau]

Hello all,

We picked up some new corals from the LFS a few weeks ago and want to verify they are what we were told and ask for care advice. I'm going to do one thread per coral so I don't get confused.

I'm going to start with what we were told is a hammer. Here is what it looked like when we first got it and for several weeks:

This is what it looks like now:

The changes made were to increase the lighting intensity from 55% to 65% over several weeks, increase the flow on the WAV's by 3% to a maximum of 15%, and to lower one WAV a bit to provide better flow for the SPS corals higher up in the tank. We have tried moving it to an area with less flow less light and have lowered the WAV's to the original output with no change. We will be doing a water change on Sunday as well.

Any pointers on why it may have changed and what we can do to rectify it assuming it is a problem and if it's not a problem why did it happen?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[P-Dub]

That's a frogspawn, not a hammer. Similar. That does not look good. Without all the necessary info like what lights you are using and what your light schedule is, what size tank, refugium, what filtration, skimmer, return pump and what you parameters are, we would be taking shots in the dark, so to speak.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Agreed with above, appears to be frogspawn. You can tell by the multiple ends on the tentacles. Generally these guys like low light, and low flow. Also what are your water parameters?

 

[TLeTourneau]

Thanks for the reply. The tank is a Red Sea Reefer 350 with a 73 gallon display and 18 gallon sump. The lights are 2xKessil 360WE Tuna Blue, no refugium, DRS dual reactor running GFO and carbon, a Simplicity 240 DC skimmer, an Octo Varios 6 return pump running at 50%. I will test for parameters later today when I am done with work but the last tests had them at:

Alk: 6.9
Cal: 408
Phos: 0.02
Ph: 7.92
Sal: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0.5

 

[Crabs McJones]

How far off the waters surface do you have the kessils mounted? and is the frogspawn directly under the lights or off to the side?

 

[TLeTourneau]

How far off the waters surface do you have the kessils mounted? and is the frogspawn directly under the lights or off to the side?

The Kessil's are mounted 7" from the surface of the water. The frogspawn is currently on the bottom of the tank toward the front off to the side. I have added a picture for clarification.

 

[Crabs McJones]

The Kessil's are mounted 7" from the surface of the water. The frogspawn is currently on the bottom of the tank toward the front off to the side. I have added a picture for clarification.

Good looking setup (im a kessil guy so this is extra nice to me ) Id lower your intensity. to around 30 to 40 percent as it looks like that frogspawn is still getting alot of light. Lower your intensity and see if it hopefully recovers

 

[TLeTourneau]

Thanks for the reply! We'll can try that, any thought on how it might impact the SPS towards the top? Although some of that seems to have bleached a bit so maybe I just need to turn it down overall. We could also move it into a rock alcove for shade if that would help.

Yeah, I really like the Kessil's. I liked them so much I got a pair of 360 Tuna Sun's for my 150 Gallon freshwater tank too.

 

[P-Dub]

I see a nice spot smack dab in the middle of the tank where there is a bit of a shady area. I do think that 100% is a bit on the high side as well. Moderate flow and moderate lighting is what I have had the best luck with for Euphyllia...