new frags help..

[jaydm93teg]

ok i got a frag of mushroom, hammer and xenia

i got them all in the tank glued down and in place how long should i expect for them to take to start showing me what they look like.....like they are all shrunken right now.......also should i leave all of my lights on like all the blue and white ones on....i have 8 t5's.....and is there anything i should know about these 3 fags such as what type of flow they like?

they are my first coral frags ever and i just dont want them to die.

 

[krb]

I always leave my lights off for 24 hours after adding frags. I also put them at the bottom of the tank in a really low light area for a couple of days. i gradually move them to where I want them over a couple of weeks, going from low light to increasingly brighter spots

 

[jcusmarine]

Providing your water parameters are good and the corals are healthly, they are just acclimating....as for the lights, if they were under low light conditions before, just reduce the photoperiod and gradually increase and they will adjust to the T5's in no time....

 

[jaydm93teg]

i think the guy i got them from had 4 T5's and i have 8 T5's is that a huge diff. to the corals i mean i know its double the bulbs but as far as the corals go is that a big difference to them

 

[jaydm93teg]

that a big defference?

 

[jcusmarine]

Without knowing the wattage, and size of the tank I would assume it is still a decent enough difference to have to acclimate the corals...lessen the photoperiod for a few days and see how it goes....corals will adjust.

 

[jaydm93teg]

ok so i got back from vacation today and my xenia are smaller they dont look discolored they just look shrunken. The mushroom looks gone and the hammer coral is there but is "sprouting" out as much as it was when i left.....I dont know my calcium or alkalinity because i have never tested for that......i will be starting that tomm.....but all my other water params are right where they need to be. any suggestions....water flow is pretty good i have 2 MJ 400's, 1 MJ 1200, 1 HOB skimmer, 1 HOB bio wheel 330.....

 

[drnecropolis]

Mushrooms are known for jumping off rocks sometimes...xenia will also do it..

 

[jaydm93teg]

well the mushroom was glued to a shell and i have the shell but the mushroom looks like it just vanished......and the xenia are still there they just dont look as tall and are no pulsating anywhere near as much as they used to

 

[jaydm93teg]

is calcium and alkalinity absolutly necessary to maintain in order to keep corals?

I ask this becase i have a 12 gallon nano with normal stock lighting and my frogspawn are doing great in there.

then i have my 80 gallon with 8 T5's and nothing is doing good in there....the hammer is looking BAD...the xenia is no long pulsating....the mushroom shrivled up and disappeared.

so could calcium and alk. be the cause of this? can the water being to salty cause this because i believe the water is a bit over ideal because i have been out of town and had some evaporation and havent topped off with fresh

 

[gwhiz]

Calcium and Alk are critical for SPS corals, important for LPS corals (like frogspawn) and less important for soft corals.

That said, CA and Alk levels shouldn't affect your xenia unless they were extremely out of whack--salt levels certainly could. As could nitrates, nitrites, am, etc.

If you'd like, I could come take a look--this evening or this weekend.....

 

[jaydm93teg]

yeah i might take u up on that......im gonna head to the LFS to see if he can test all my stuff for me and i will get back to you with the levels.

THanks

 

[jaydm93teg]

ok i just moved the hammer frag and the xenia frag to my nano where my frogspawn is THRIVING....i mean the frogspawn is getting huge and i can see new little branch type things starting to form im guessing that is it growing more heads or whatever u would call them..... now i know that water is good and the lighting is good enough so we will see what happens with them in there.