Why won't my frogspawn expand?

tehSAC · Mar 21, 2017

I have a small frogspawn a local reefer gave me off of his thriving colony. It has been in my tank 2 weeks now and it barely extends its tentacles.

The flow is low and I'm only running an 18 watt led light on my NUVO 10. I've had it all over my tank and no where has it show great expansion. Any thoughts?

Also my zoa's and my trumpets seem very happy and readily accept mysis.

Tank is 1.025 SG, dKH:8, Cal:380, and Mg: 1300. 77.5 degrees.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 21, 2017

Up the flow, it may be a bit close to the other coral. Its a pretty new tank so it might just be grumpy still about the its new home.

tehSAC · Mar 21, 2017

I'd have to add a power head to up the flow. Right now I have an upgraded pump and the spin stream nozzle.

May try and move it to its left underneath the spinstream.

40B Knasty · Mar 21, 2017

What kind of lights was it under before entering your tank?

Zack K · Mar 21, 2017

I must have missed it but Nitrate,Ammonia, and Nitrite, phosphate?

tehSAC · Mar 22, 2017

40B Knasty said:
What kind of lights was it under before entering your tank?

AI Hydra's

Zack Klabunde said:
I must have missed it but Nitrate,Ammonia, and Nitrite, phosphate?

Nitrate, Ammonia, and Nitrite 0

Phosphate <.08

40B Knasty · Mar 22, 2017

I don't know what kind of lights those are. Could be LEDs? T5s? MH? What watts? What is it compared to yours if it is an LED? Fill in more blanks so we can help. Otherwise it is going to be a slow figuring out process for you and the help. Everything else seems good. Maybe it was just the move. Maybe there is a bug in your tank that is bothering it. You never said you dipped it. So it could also be that. And by guessing this person you received the frag from. That one coral was one of many he/she had. Where a bug being noticed on a frogspawn was the least of his/her worries when he/she had a $300 piece somewhere else in the tank being carefully watched more.

tehSAC · Mar 22, 2017

The AI Hydras are the Fifty Two model LED lights. He is running 4 of them on a 260 gallon tank. At max each one can be run at 135 watts. My light is an 18 watt innovative marine LED light. I cannot adjust the spectrum or intensity of this light.

The coral has been in the tank for close to two weeks. When I got it from him it had been on his frag rack for 3 weeks prior to that. He also dipped the coral for me when I picked it up.

The candy cane colony in the photo was also from him. It is as happy as could be. 25 heads, nice and puffy, and great colors. This piece came from the same tank and the same frag rack.

40B Knasty · Mar 22, 2017

I love your candy cane! Definitely a healthy one. Seems like the lights might be the problem in my opinion. Maybe take a turkey baster and lightly press some water into it. It has worked a few times for me. My wrasse will kick up sand when he goes to sleep in the sand bed. Also flushes out other stuff.

tehSAC · Mar 22, 2017

I will try the water trick tonight.

I know the light is an issue, and will be addressed soon.

40B Knasty · Mar 22, 2017

tehSAC said:
I will try the water trick tonight.

I know the light is an issue, and will be addressed soon.

It's really hard finding a good quality LED light for a nano tank. I am a big fan of the T5s for a few reasons. The most important one being. No matter how cheap the fixture's cost was. You can still throw ATI lights in. The highest of quality and that's what you get. Problem now is I don't know of any T5 light fixtures for a 10g. So I am stumped at this point. Definitely try the flow like saltyfilmfolks said.
In your pic. You can definitely see a lot of shadowing under the candy cane and frogspawn. I don't know anything about Metal Halide. Maybe that might work for the shadowing and give you more intensity. Hopefully someone will chime in on that, because I also to would like to know from experience if a T5 has to be ruled out due to tank length.

pickupman66 · Mar 22, 2017

1. Light is not enough for that coral
2. More Flow. they like a good bouncy random flow from my experiences. Indirect and random are what mine seem to prefer most.

FWIW, I have mine under a Radion. my Frogspawn is in a very high zone near 400 Par. The Hammers I have are in the 250 and below range but not less than 180. I run a pair of WP25 in alternating mode, a WP10 in wave mode and have about 600 GPH thru my sump in a 66 gallon tank.

tehSAC · Mar 22, 2017

I am planning to purchase a AI Prime HD which from other forums and posts that should be sufficient enough for lighting. I'm wanting to go the LED route for cooling and longevity purposes.

As for flow I guess I'll need to add a powerhead. Something I wanted to avoid but I am planning on adding another frogspawn and a hammer in the future.