Frogspawn won't open fully
- Thread starter layz79
- Start date
NS Mike D
New member
as a LED user, I like to know what the actual PAR is throughout my tank, if not with a PAR meter, at the very least, a PAR mapping from the manufacturer.
High, medium, low placement works pretty good for metal halides and T5s since there is a lot of data on them and there is consistency. But in LEDS, things like watts, number of LEDs etc don't translate the way traditional lighting numbers do.
edit: Change of mind, maybe it is too little light. They close up at night and open up in the morning.
I originally had mine in an area that I would consider too low flow and too little light for a frogspawn, but it still opened, although it stretched out it's tentacles a bit and the color was more translucent than I would expect. I moved it to a better PAR location and medium flow and it appears happier (less stringy and brighter/deeper green).
Thanks for that info!! What par value range do you find best for your frogspawn?
bundybear1981
New member
I have a reefbreeders 48 photon light over my tank, frogspawn is on the bottom is about 2' under the lights which max at 70%,60% on the 2 channels. Its in a low to medium flow area. Too much flow and it closes up.
Also you say your figures are perfect. What are they exactly?
Also you say your figures are perfect. What are they exactly?
Calc 450
DKH 10
mag 1450
Salinity 1.024
Phos 0
Trate 0
Trite0
Ammo 0
Tank is 4 months old.
NS Mike D
New member
can't tell you what is best, what i can tell you is that if the PAR mapping on my LEDS is correct, they are getting about 110 and 150 PAR. I've read several post that say the range is 100 - 200 with pops that 200+ is working for them.
They started in my tank about 50 Par at the bottom before I moved them up a few weeks ago.
This may be overkill, but I find knowing these has greatly helped me better understand where to place corals.
My LEDs are set for:
Main/Daylight 15k
8am -9am Sunrise
9am - 11am 75%
11am - 3pm 100%
3pm to 6pm 75%
6pm - 8pm Sunset
Blue/Moon (up to 25K)
same as above but sunset run to 10pm
The PAR marking is
3" 376
6" 222
12" 90
18" 47
120 degree dispersement
My LEDs produce a small fraction lighting than say Kessils or other very nice lights recommend in this site.
Potatohead
New member
I recently bought a branching hammer that opened up for a couple days in my tank upon introduction, but then stayed closed for like two+ weeks. I never moved it afterwards, I just decided to leave it alone, and I was pretty darn sure there wasn't too much flow and I knew my water was fine. I think it was just having a hard time acclimating to my lighting... But for about ten days now it has been opening and looks normal.
NS Mike D
New member
I am approaching 18 months. At 4 months I was getting similar readings (i just checked my logs) and yet all my LPS and SPS died slow deaths.
From personal experience and from reading a lot of posts, there is a lot of trial and error and as the tank and the reefer matures, things get better. You get to know your tank better and the next thing you know you have an outstanding collection of corals and fish that would be deemed expert only.
Then a mouse chews through a power cord and the whole tank crashes and you put what's left up for sale on craigslist.
PS About 6 months in, cyano started to show up and eventually I concluded that my API NO3 and PO4 tests could not be right. I switched to Red Sea tests and sure enough we had a problem. If the tank is telling you something that contradicts the test kits. get a second opinion.
Thanks the issue could very well be tank maturity. But I'm not new to the game. This is my 2nd go of it. I was that guy you described back in 2011. It took this long to get back in mentally, but this time much more determined to do it right. All my test kits are red sea by the way. I've been carbon dosing with vodka which is why i'm confident in my figures. Have experienced a small amount of cyano which is a known issue with Carbon dosing. But that has come and gone. No algae in tank whatsoever. I'm confident it's a placement issue or a maturity issue perhaps.
Potatohead
New member
bundybear1981
New member
Your water might be a bit too clean for LPS, they tend to like some nutrients in the water. 4 months old is still very young for the tank so it could be a while until it settles in more and gets more stability as well. If you can post some pics of your coral it could help us see what you having happening as well, including full tank shots so we can see placement.
Good points! Thanks. Here is another pic.
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