Hammer & Frogspawn Corals Not Opening

[fort384]

So after doing some reading, what I thought was the sweeper tentacle was actually the hammer expelling zooxanthellae. You can actually see it in the vid I posted above. It is doing it again today. I would say this is not good. Hopefully I am not killing this thing. It actually looks worse today when I compare it to the video from yesterday. Having the lighting far subdued today doesn't seem to be helping, and like I said it actually looks worse. The tentacles are so far retracted that it is barely even moving in the current at all.

[fort384]

Well, unfortunately, no good news today - neither of the LPS looks any better, and in fact, the hammer actually looks worse.

I am wondering if something else is going on here, as today, 1 of my 3 zoa colonies did not open all the way, and it has been that way all day. Most of the polyps are only about half open. Do I need to run the AI Sols at less than 40% intensity?

I did my weekly water change today, and tested everything.
0 NH4
0 NO2
10 NO3 (dropped after the water change from my last reading)
.12 PO4
1.025 SG
79F Temp

1 clown is still bugging the hammer, but the other clown has left the frogspawn alone pretty much all day, and it still is all closed up...

[AquaRick]

What lighting was the hammer and zoas under at your LFS? I know a few guys who switched to sols after the price came down when the Vega's were introduced. They started theirs at 20% intensity and moved up 5% or so every week. I'd try dropping it down some for a couple days and see how things react. I'd rather do less light than more to start out with imo.

[fort384]

The hammer was under MH. I think the tank with the zoas might have been pc... But they opened great for the first week. Today is the first day they didn't open all the way. I will drop the light down to 20% for tomorrows photoperiod....

[AquaRick]

Do you know what wattage of MH's? 150,250, 400?

[fort384]

No I don't. I could call and ask I suppose. It didn't look particularly bright. They had a lot of sps frags in the tank so I assume it was halfway decent wattage but I don't know for sure.

[AquaRick]

If it was a 150, then I'd definitely think the 40% was a bit bright. Hopefully the next couple days go well!

[fort384]

Thanks Rick. I will give it a try. I just hope I am not past the point of no return with them.

[fort384]

Wow, things really went down hill today. The frogspawn and the hammer are both so retracted, you can hardly see the tentacles. The zoa colony that was half open yesterday was completely closed up today. One of my other colonies had some closed up heads.

Do you think 20% intensity was just not enough light? Should I increase it some for tomorrow or just leave it as is for another day.

[Sniperhank]

Well, if continuing to turn down the wattage isn't working, is it possible to move them from directly under the light?

[fort384]

Not really. You really think even 20% is too much intensity?

[Sniperhank]

It is possible. Taking the specs from my radion, 250 watt bulb = 1 130 wat radion. So, if they were using 150 watt MH...

[fort384]

It might have been 150, but I doubt it as it was an SPS tank that it came out of. It was also a shallow frag tank, where as I have both the frogspawn and the hammer on the bottom at 21" (vs. maybe 12" at the LFS).

[fort384]

Here are some pics to show how pathetic they are looking:

HAMMER BEFORE (Day 1 in tank)


HAMMER NOW


FROGSPAWN BEFORE (DAY 2 or 3 IN TANK)


FROGSPAWN NOW:


ZOAS BEFORE (DAY 1 or 2 IN TANK)


ZOAS NOW:

[Ziggy953]

Temp? tank stats?

[bigben2057]

the zoas look like they are dying.

[mr_X]

That stinks! I'm using the ebay knock-off LEDs but I have a frogspawn about 15" directly under one and it's loving the light. Crank that fixture down to almost nothing for a couple days and see what happens!

[Ziggy953]

Originally Posted by mr_X

That stinks! I'm using the ebay knock-off LEDs but I have a frogspawn about 15" directly under one and it's loving the light. Crank that fixture down to almost nothing for a couple days and see what happens!

I think the problem is he has the lights too low. Running them at 20% is most likely not enough light. I believe he told me these corals came from a tank with MH lighting so running the LEDs at 20% and expecting the corals to be happy doesn't make much sense to me.

I don't profess to be an expert but I've never experienced such issues transitioning a coral to a tank.

just my $.02

[mr_X]

They would not shrink if the light was too low, instead they would expand more to try to create more surface area to absorb light. "MH" lighting could mean anything. As stated above, a couple 150 watt halides over a tank is practically nothing.

[Ziggy953]

Originally Posted by mr_X

They would not shrink if the light was too low, instead they would expand more to try to create more surface area to absorb light. "MH" lighting could mean anything. As stated above, a couple 150 watt halides over a tank is practically nothing.

Like I said...just my $.02