Thoughts on these LPS'

[ThisGuy12]

So I have my first two LPS' in my new tank (parameters and age below), I'm curious to hear opinions as to if I have them located properly to help them thrive.

The two new LPS' I have are a 2 headed Green/Purple Frogspawn frag cut directly from my LFS' main display tank, and a 2 headed Green Metallic Torch also cut from his display tank.

I moved the frogspawn a bit lower already as he wasn't fully opening up, I guess he didn't like that cause he's been closed up for about 4 hours now. He did eat some mysis shrimp last night though seemed to devour them! Torch has been in for about 12 hours now, Frogspawn has been in for 36 hours.

These are the tank parameters:
Size: 28gal bowfront w/ 20g high sump (filled with about 13 gal of water)
pH: 8.4
Salinity: 1.0245
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrites: 0.0
Nitrates: 0.0
Alk: 8dKH
Calc: 640
Mag: 1280
Temp: 80F
Lighting - T5 (4) bulb fixture with 6500k and 10,000k bulbs and moonlight LEDs. Moonlights always on, 6500k on for 12 hours, 10,000k on for 14 hours daily.
Tank Age: 8 weeks

Here is a pic of the tank laid out.

Torch: Mouth's are wide open...

I'm just hoping these are healthy and in the optimal positions. The flow isn't huge in my tank the water is directed towards the bowfront for a bounce effect.

As a final note, a buddy of mine offered to give me his plate coral, not sure if I want to take on 3 corals just yet but would I be a fool to pass it up?

 

[Art13]

The best way i can describe the flow that works for me is an ocean breeze, enough to get them to look like they are waving at you, but not to the point where it looks like they will be blown out of their skeleton. Do you have any actinic bulbs in the fixture?

 

[ThisGuy12]

I'm fairly certain the fixture has 2 actinic bulbs in it with the daylight bulbs separate.

I guess I'll leave them be for now see how they respond and adjust accordingly.

 

[Art13]

They are both fairly hardy corals, i'd give your frogspawn a day or two to open, if nothing changes, it could be placement, also possible the water may be too clean, i noticed you said nitrates aren't registering. Your calc is very high, is that reading correct?

 

[triggreef]

Your ca needs to come down. A couple 20 percent water changes should do it, but that would be a waste of salt imo. A teaspoon of baking soda should help instead of water change. It will bump your alk so be sure to check it a few hours later but it will help to precipitate some of that ca. High ca burns many corals.

 

[ThisGuy12]

Yes, calc is still very high (slowly lowering it), it's cause of the salt I used to mix CoralLife and the PurpleUp.

No nitrates have registered in the past few weeks. Everything is <0.1ppm (ammonia / nitrites / nitrates). You may be correct, the water may actually be too clean. Thanks for the response, I'll let them hang out for a couple days and monitor them.

Your ca needs to come down. A couple 20 percent water changes should do it, but that would be a waste of salt imo. A teaspoon of baking soda should help instead of water change. It will bump your alk so be sure to check it a few hours later but it will help to precipitate some of that ca. High ca burns many corals.

Thanks for the advice, any specific baking soda? I did a 10% water change last sunday (3 days ago). The levels have already come down from my original number of 780. How often do you dose the baking soda?

 

[maroonman]

How old is your tank setup?

 

[ThisGuy12]

How old is your tank setup?

8 weeks (2 months)

 

[Vgyoung]

I'm lovin your tank and your aquascape with the newly added corals the ca will come down as they absorb it I would say get the plate your tank looks awesome and it would also lower the ca I wanna see updated asap

 

[Art13]

I would drop the calc first but after that definitely look into the plate, if he's going to give it to you they usually run $50 or so for a cheap one, would be a good pickup.

 

[ThisGuy12]

Thanks guys the two live rocks will be moved once the dry rock is populated, they are taking up prime real estate for other corals.

Some other good news, I dropped my temperature to 78F last night, came home today and re-tested calc / alk results as follows:

Salinity: 1.024
Alk: 170ppm or 9.52dKH
Calc: 560ppm

Calc is still a bit high, but has come down substantially guess its finally balancing out. I'm not 100% sure what is causing it to drop but I have a feeling its a combination of the new corals, the dry rock finally populating and absorbing the nutrients, and my fuge (with 3.5" DBS) / cleaning crew.

I'm going to house the plate this weekend in the tank for a couple weeks, I promised it to a good friend of mine, plus I kinda owe him since he has vastly helped me set this up including holding up buckets of salt mix while I siphoned into the tank.

Also in other news the Frogspawn has opened up a bit more, the torch has almost fully opened up. I'm going to leave them alone, not try to feed them or anything and let them do their own thing, I have a feeling the clowns might have been checking them out which they didn't like causing them to close up. I also repositioned my koralia 240gph powerhead. I won't be adding a MP10 till the corals & fish have started to thrive.

 

[Art13]

i'm not sure what your flow through the sump is but they will actually thrive with better flow. with that pump you're only at about a 9x an hour turnover rate, i would use the mp10 as soon as you are able to, with lps aim for about 20x turnover and adjust from there, with an mp10 you'll have some control so try and make it so they look like they are waving at you.

 

[ThisGuy12]

I agree, the flow is a little low for my liking, but currently the powerhead is mounted on the back wall facing the front. I still have the temporary option of moving the powerhead to the side wall and letting more flow get to the LPS'. I also have another 240gph I can add in, the problem with that pump is it makes some weird noise, I haven't figured out why yet.

Hoping to get the MP10 soon and just be done with the others

 

[kurt_n]

...
Calc is still a bit high, but has come down substantially guess its finally balancing out. I'm not 100% sure what is causing it to drop but I have a feeling its a combination of the new corals, the dry rock finally populating and absorbing the nutrients, and my fuge (with 3.5" DBS) / cleaning crew...

I see you mentioned using PurpleUp, so my guess is your calcium is dropping down because the calcium that is in that product is finally settling out of your water column. Calcium is not absorbed that quick by corals or anything else. Do some searching in the Chemistry forum on 'PurpleUp' and I think you'll find it's a waste of money and does nothing but mess up your water chemistry. Give your tank a good salt mix (you've got one), time (you've got that), and a rock with some coralline on it (looks like you've got that) and you'll have purple in your tank without any additional $$ !

Regarding the placement of that torch...

I made the mistake of putting a beautiful torch smack dab in the middle of my 46g tank. It was my centerpiece and looked great. Then it grew and grew. And then it started sending out sweepers. With it being in the middle of the tank, it could easily reach about 75% of my tank - and it did. I no longer have that coral after I watched it try to kill off my Stylophora. It happens quick.

Ever since then, I recommend folks with small tanks to put torches in their own little corner. That way, it limits their inevitable reach. Once they become happy in their new home, you will be amazed at the reach they have with the sweepers they can generate. (And I'm not talking about the normal tentacles... sweepers come and go and you might not even see them.)

 

[ThisGuy12]

Thanks for the advice. On the topic of placement should I potentially swap the torch and frogspawn then?

I definitely want the torch visible (obviously). But it would rather set him up in the right spot instead of worrying about it later.

 

[ThisGuy12]

Any thoughts on placement?

I turned off the power heads and just left the return pump to create a current, torch seems to really like this he opened up entirely.

Frogspawn is open, somewhat, though he was fragged directly so he still might be recovering.

 

[kurt_n]

I've never had a frogspawn, so I can't speak from any direct experience. All I know is that torches seem to live up to their name when it comes to playing with other corals: they will torch whatever they can reach. Not sure about frogspawns, but they are part of the same family.

I'd probably swap the two, if it was me. As the torch grows, it will definitely be visible! And nothing says you can't move them down the road. But I'm like you... I like finding the right spot in the beginning and sticking with it. Very few of my corals have moved from where I put them originally.

 

[trinidiver]

Why do you have these lights on for those long hrs. 500k on for 12 hours, 10,000k on for 14 hours daily. That's way too long. Cut them down to 8 & 10 MAX.

 

[ThisGuy12]

Thoughts on these LPS'

I've never had a frogspawn, so I can't speak from any direct experience. All I know is that torches seem to live up to their name when it comes to playing with other corals: they will torch whatever they can reach. Not sure about frogspawns, but they are part of the same family.

I'd probably swap the two, if it was me. As the torch grows, it will definitely be visible! And nothing says you can't move them down the road. But I'm like you... I like finding the right spot in the beginning and sticking with it. Very few of my corals have moved from where I put them originally.

I ended up swapping them Saturday morning, neither was very happy with me obviously. I also moved the Powerhead up higher so most of the current is higher above the corals. Both seem to like the movement, both have opened up entirely for the first time since I put them in, this morning the torch was really reaching, his tentacles were reaching almost 2"! The frogspawn isn't quite as large but he's still a new frag.

Why do you have these lights on for those long hrs. 500k on for 12 hours, 10,000k on for 14 hours daily. That's way too long. Cut them down to 8 & 10 MAX.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I work during the week and can't turn the lights on later in the morning.

I'm in the process of re-wiring my fixture to a controller. For now it doesn't seem to be hurting anything but I'll definitely cut the lighting down soon.

 

[trinidiver]

Just run a simple time to turn it on and off.
I leave for work at 6:30 am and get back in at 5-5:30pm. I hooked mine up on timers and the actinics come on at 6:00am so I can make roll call. My daylights don't come on till between 11:00am-1:00pm (changes daily) and come off till 8:00-9:00PM. (8-9hrs daily) That way I get to see my tank when I am home. Don't make sense it on all during the morning period and no one is there to enjoy it. During the morning period though, the tank just gets whatever natural light there is.