Frogspawn growth secrets...

[kahunakatz]

I have to say I think a Calicum level of 380 or above is not going to slow down growth, at least not noticably. When I look at the picture of your tank I see a lot of soft corals. I think your Frogspawn's growth may be slowed down by allelopathic chemicals that soft corals release to hinder the growth and health of hard corals. Running Carbon and having an effective well tuned skimmer will help as will water changes.

Best Wishes,
Barry Katz

 

[XeniaMania]

TY Barry, yes I suspect that as well and plan on offing 2 of the leathers. The Neon tree, Pulsing Sinularia, and Green Polyp leather must stay though.. I do believe my Urchin is well tuned, but then again, everyone might have their own definition of well tuned, so what's yours? I also did recently start running carbon, it's only been 2-3 days since I started so once again too early to tell. Are xenias capable of Allelopathic warfare? I know leathers are. Thanks again for your advice.

 

[kahunakatz]

I seem to recall that Xenia can release a fair amount of allelopathic chemicals although it seems to me that I have read and observed that Leather Corals are the worse. I have heard of Xenia over powering SPS corals such as Acropora and encouching on their territory.

If you hack those leather corals they will temporarily release a lot of allelopathic chemicals in response to the stress.

I would recommend running Carbon in the tank at least one week out of the month. As far as how well tuned your skimmer is depends on the make and model as well as how clean the air inlets are and how wet you choose to run it. I think you should be emptying your skimmer collection cup once or twice per week.

Best Wishes,
Barry Katz

 

[XeniaMania]

Thanks for the great advice guys, I've removed all the leathers from the proximity of the frogspawn plus traded away the one that was closest to it. The color of it has already improved and the polyp does seem to extend out a tad bit further. My next coral that I'm selling is the Pulsing Sinularia, hate to get rid of it, but if that coral is releasing a lot of allelopathic toxins, then I have no other alternative, but, I'm saving myself a tiny frag..

Also comparing to the picture above, you can see how my Sailfin's just been mowing through that Bryopsis algae..woohoo...algae free at last!

 

[yardboy]

I've got an emotional attachment to my green Sinularia too. Unfortunately I can definitely tell it boths most of the hard corals in my tank, so periodically, I take it out and cut it way back and start over with a smaller frag. When you pull one this size out of your tank, you can definitely tell his effect on others.

 

[XeniaMania]

ic...good to hear, yeah, the only leathers I plan on keeping are the green polyp ones. Everything else gotta go.