frogspawn question

[cbcostanza]

Ever since I got my metal halides my frogspawn has gone way down hill. At what point do you give up on it. It doesn't open up very much at all maybe about 1" to 1 1.2" in diameter on the biggest head.

 

[wsnyder6]

Hmmm,

Where is it at in the tank? If it is real close to a power head, it probably will stay shrunken. Could well be the halides too, if your signature is correct - 400W is alot for a 15.

 

[cbcostanza]

I actually have 250 watts, but I got it real cheap and I plan on getting a bigger tank sometime in the future so I am just using it. It is located in the bottom of the tank and not in high flow.

 

[cbcostanza]

O I forgot the little baby heads that were forming on the sides are dead now.

 

[jjensen6823]

Do you really have a 250W MH on a 15G tank? That'll kill a frogspawn pretty quickly, in my experience. There is such a thing as too much light! I've keep my 15 or so head frogspawn under 440W of VHO's in a 72G bowfront for three years, fragging it four times. In fact, I ended up moving it about halfway down the tank (roughly 10-12"), because it was getting too much light at the top! Now I've moved up to a 150 XH, 30" deep, and I'm still running the 440W of VHO, with the additon of 220W of PC, and everything is growing well, even my crocea clam (which is only about 9" deep). In fact, I recently placed a frogspawn frag in a pvc stand on the bottom temporarily until I could find it a perch, and it is doing so well that I've left it there. It just dropped a pup (or bud, or whatever you want to call it) yesterday! (The frag is available for trade, BTW)

I personally think many reefers get too carried away with light. Check out www.wetwebmedia.com for some excellent articles about how much light is minimum requirement, how much is productive, and how much is overkill. LPS corals are not nearly as high-light as SPS and clams (and 250W of MH is too much for a 15G in any case, in my opinion). I'm sure I am about to get completely flamed by other reefers who totally disagree, but this is my experience over the last 7 years, using my VHO's. I've lost a couple corals, mostly due to physical damage (i.e. rocks falling on them) or letting them grow too close to one another. In one case, my foxface ate a colt coral! But I don't think light has ever been the issue. Most of my corals have been alive and growing for 5-7 years. They are all LPS.

This is only my opinion, which won't even get you a cup of coffee, but that's just too much light for a frogspawn to cope with. It just can't open up under that intensity.

 

[wsnyder6]

If water parameters are o, the only thing I could think of is that the lights are frying the frogspawn. Is there a rock overhand, or some other darker place in the ank you could move it?? (Of course, when in doubt do a water change and see if that helps...)

 

[Burgman]

Hi,

Wow, 250w MH on a 15gal. tank. Better get some sun glasses for your Frogspawn. How hot does your tank get with that much light? I would move it to a shaded area of your tank ASAP with medium water flow. Frogspawn do not like a lot of flow on them.

Dave

 

[cbcostanza]

The light is a good 12" off the water so that helps. I know it seems like alot of light, but I have a temperature controller and fans that keep it at 80-81. Like I said in an earlier post I plan on upgrading my tank and I didn't want to have to buy a 150 watt MH and then when I get a bigger tank have to buy a 250 MH. My acros and other hard corals love the light and are doing very well. I think it looks like my tank is going to become an all SPS tank in the near future.

 

[cbcostanza]

I moved it under an overhang, hopefully it will be happy there!

 

[cbcostanza]

I moved it in the shade a bit and after two days it's 3 heads are opening up and looking almost normal! Thanks for all the help!