Why can't I keep frogspawn? Grrrrr...

[jeffchapok]

No matter how healthy my frogspawn and hammers look, they eventually always detach from the stalk. I've had this colony since 3/13. Today one of the heads is bailing.

Here's how they look. Looks otherwise happy to me:

Here you can see the flow they are under:


Latest params:

I know my NO3 and PO4 are high, but they've always been that way. Everything but SPS doesn't seem to mind.

My lights are Current USA Orbit Pro supplemented by a T5 actinic and blue plus.

I have a torch that's been in the same conditions for 3 or 4 months that's doing just fine. I thought they were harder than frogspawn/hammers.

 

[Webslinger]

Strange...i can't kill mine...do you do water changes? Temp is a little low.

 

[Katie M]

Temp is just fine - the store I work at, myself, and many of our customers run our tanks at 74.
Nitrates and Phosphates are high, keep bringing those down, but do you have any readings further back? Often times when corals go on the decline it's do to swings in parameters more so than numbers being high (if that makes sense).

 

[jeffchapok]

Yes, I do water changes. I used to do 10% weekly but over the past couple of months I've cut back to every two weeks. My corals actually seem happier when I don't do it as frequently. I use Red Sea Coral Pro.

Until about a month ago I kept the water at 78 deg. But my heater went out and I bought a new one that's fixed at 78. But it's in my sump and the DT only gets to 74-76. I'm planning to get another adjustable one to bring the DT back to 78. But I had this problem even when it was warmer.

Here's my euphyllia graveyard. I keep them in my QT just in case one of them decides to come back. I've heard it can happen.

 

[Webslinger]

I run mine at 77. When I went to 75 they would never extend. I believe their recommended temp should be 76-81. I would try going warmer it's an easy try. Stability is key.

 

[Katie M]

Yes, I do water changes. I used to do 10% weekly but over the past couple of months I've cut back to every two weeks. My corals actually seem happier when I don't do it as frequently. I use Red Sea Coral Pro.

Until about a month ago I kept the water at 78 deg. But my heater went out and I bought a new one that's fixed at 78. But it's in my sump and the DT only gets to 74-76. I'm planning to get another adjustable one to bring the DT back to 78. But I had this problem even when it was warmer.

Here's my euphyllia graveyard. I keep them in my QT just in case one of them decides to come back. I've heard it can happen.

I'm not referring to water changes - I mean stable parameters (alkalinity, calcium...) if you've had swings with Alk especially it can cause a lot of damage to corals.

 

[Super Fly]

I run mine at 77. When I went to 75 they would never extend. I believe their recommended temp should be 76-81. I would try going warmer it's an easy try. Stability is key.

+1 on this
If it was me, I'd try raising temp and salinity. In my tank Euphyllias r growing like weed at 79F & 1.026... I keep 2 heaters in sump with 2 thermometers (1 digital & 1 analog)

 

[jeffchapok]

Temp is just fine - the store I work at, myself, and many of our customers run our tanks at 74.
Nitrates and Phosphates are high, keep bringing those down, but do you have any readings further back? Often times when corals go on the decline it's do to swings in parameters more so than numbers being high (if that makes sense).

My reply about water changes was to the poster before you.

My nitrates and phosphates have been pretty stable for the past year.

 

[jeffchapok]

I'm going to put the heater back into the DT until I can get a new one.

 

[Super Fly]

growing so much they keep falling off rock after becoming too heavy...if ur in NJ I can give u some Hammer heads if interested

 

[Webslinger]

or in WNY

 

[homer1475]

Don't feel bad, no matter what I do I cannot keep acans in this tank. Similar to your situation where they are fine for a couple months, then just shrink up and wither away. Previous tank I could grow anything except goni's. Goni's in this tank do fine.

No Idea why, and I have given up trying to figure it out, or keep buying acans to only kill them in the end.

 

[brandon429]

notice the blue vs white balances in the pics here

that first shot/that much white would bleach my hammers does the tank always run that color temp Jeff

have you ever done 1 month sustained 3x weekly spot feedings, paired with water changes so nothing builds up? an active, vs a passive mode is what we use/all pico reefers keeping frogspawns.

my kessils are 100% set to blue, any white would bleach out my lps slowly. I know its not like that across tanks, many run the kessils on the 10K setting but less white and + blue than initially shown is never harmful to try as a baseline approach to doing things differently here.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was in the same boat and Hammered it down (no pun intended). Im also not suggesting this is the formula but it works and my growth is crazy !
PH - 8.1
Temp 78-79
Salinity 1.025-1.026
Lower part of tank
Lighting heavy in blue spectrum
Moderate water flow
Placed in path of where I feed fish so they always get scraps

 

[jeffchapok]

This is about as accurate a representation of my lighting as I can capture with my cellphone.

My daytime settings are 100% blue, 48% white, 24% red and 24% green on my LEDs, plus the actinic and blue+ single T5 bulbs. The T5s are not HO. I run this for 12 hours with 1.5 hour ramp up and ramp down, mostly blue. The T5s are only on 11 hours during the full LED cycle.

The frogspawn are at the lower left.

 

[brandon429]

really nice tank. I feel confident the whites should drop a bunch and up the spot feedings for the frogspawns, the rest are adapted to current levels but those custom tunes arent harmful for the other corals either. that much white would lighten up my corals but I have no fish. you have some nutrients to help out but its still too white in my opinion considering the stress.

 

[jeffchapok]

I

really nice tank. I feel confident the whites should drop a bunch and up the spot feedings for the frogspawns, the rest are adapted to current levels but those custom tunes arent harmful for the other corals either. that much white would lighten up my corals but I have no fish. you have some nutrients to help out but its still too white in my opinion considering the stress.

I'll do that. Personally, I don't like that much white, but what reading I've done indicated that it was better for coral growth and that blue was mostly for appearance. Of course, I know there are many arguments both ways.

I forgot to mention that I spot feed 3 times per week a mixture of Reef Roids and very finely chopped clams.

 

[Intense37754]

I agree with the lights and water temp.
These were very tiny frags almost a year ago.
78 degrees
Kessil 360 8-10inchs set to no more than 20 color with 20% intensity
Red Sea pro at 35ppt at least 10% weekly changes
And plenty of flow

I forgot to add, started target feeding Red Sea AB+ and curious to see results over next few months

 

[jeffchapok]

Dangit!

 

[Albertan22]

You posted about your nitrate and phosphate being stable early in the thread but how stable has your alkalinity been? Swings in alkalinity can cause delayed reactions of what you are seeing. Do you dose? Is your alkalinity dropping a bunch between water changes then jumping up 2, 3, or more dkh when you do your water change every 2 weeks?