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09-09-2002, 10:41 PM
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#1
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: orem, UT
Posts: 47
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what do I need to know about frogspawn coral.
I haven't had great luck with my first corals. My mushrooms are doing great and a xenia looks good. A big rock of star polyps has disappeared though. I keep hoping they'll come back but no sign of them yet. It's been about 3 weeks now. All my water parameters look good. The LFS and I are baffled about what happened to them. The only thing I can think of is maybe some Calcium from the TropicMarin brand fell on them and burned them. I followed the directions but something funky happened. Anyway, I guess that's beside the point.
I'm willing to give it another try and I was at the LFS and saw a great looking frogspawn. I think that's what it was. The torchlight kind. At least, that's how it was labeled. Anyway, what do I need to know about them. Are they easy to keep? What should I be supplementing my tank with? Right now I'm dosing the tank with Calcium, vitamens and amino acids, strontium, SeaChem Reefbuilder. I've got 96 w SmartLight PC on a 46 g. tank (I know most of you will tell me that I don't have enough light but for now I just want to get the corals that will do well under that lighting until I upgrade. I've heard a lot of people tell me they've done quite well with the same setup with soft corals). So, any info would be greatly appreciated.
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09-09-2002, 11:24 PM
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#2
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TRT Staff The Mominator
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Just South Of Seattle
Posts: 10,496
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Be careful you aren't overdosing the tank. Some of the things that are often recommended can build up to toxic levels (iodine and strontium, among others) and some of the liquid vitamins and invert foods can just add too much dissolved organic compounds to the water, making for algae problems sooner or later. Regular water changes, calcium and buffer/builder to keep the alk and pH in shape are all you really need, IMO.
Frogspawn are pretty easy to keep. They're fairly tolerant of parameter swings and will do well under most lighting. Low to moderate flow is key, only enough to make the tentacles sway; not so much that it blows them around hard enough so that you can see the base of the polyps at the skeleton. I feed mine small bits of silversides (very small whole fish, found frozen at most LFS), or blow blender mush, thawed frozen cubes or sometimes brine shrimp at them with a baster, depending on what I'm feeding the tank.
They can put out some pretty good sized sweeper tentacles and they will grow large so you'll need to place them where they have room to expand without harming their neighbors.
HTH,
Alice
__________________
 "A BRW Original"
Only Dead Fish Go With The Flow... 
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09-09-2002, 11:50 PM
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#3
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: orem, UT
Posts: 47
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thanks for the info. What about lights though? Someone else mentioned they like a lot of light. If I put them near the top of my tank will my lights be sufficient? the LFS seems to think so but I wanted some other opinions.
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09-10-2002, 12:18 AM
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#4
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: AZ
Posts: 389
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I have a 55 watt PC light strip & a 15 watt NO light strip on my 20g. I have mine up high on the rocks..... with it's base poked in a hole, and it seems to be doing really well!
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09-10-2002, 12:18 AM
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#5
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TRT Staff The Mominator
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Just South Of Seattle
Posts: 10,496
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The lighting sounds a little iffy to me. I originally had mine under 4-110w VHO's in a 55 up towards the top and it did well. Maybe some other PC users will chime in here and tell their experiences with frogspawn/torches.
Alice
__________________
"A BRW Original"
Only Dead Fish Go With The Flow...
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09-11-2002, 10:36 AM
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#6
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: orem, UT
Posts: 47
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Well, I went yesterday and got it. I have a question about the base though. Is it safe to leave it hanging or does it need to be buried in rock, etc. I've never seen a skeletal base like this. In other words, how do place the thing in the tank? For now, it fits perfectly in a hole in a piece of tonga branch live rock but that leaves the base largely out in the open. |
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09-11-2002, 10:47 AM
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#7
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Hail to the Redskins!!
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Gresham, OR
Posts: 1,133
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It should be fine as long as there is room for the polyps to extend fully. And all the stuff Alice said too! 
-Big Dave
__________________
There's nothing like feeding your starfish for your party guests!! 
120 Reef
SDSBBNR (sorta deep sand bed but not really)
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09-11-2002, 01:53 PM
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#8
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Holtsville, NY (Long Island)
Posts: 178
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I have had mine under 2 175w 10k MH bulbs with 2 65w PC actinics and it seems to be doing very good. FWIW
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09-11-2002, 02:20 PM
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#9
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Big Fishy
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Martinez, CA
Posts: 568
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Origionally, I had mine under 600 Watts of PC in a 180. The Frogspawn near the top and the Torch near the bottom. They were doing very, very well with that light. Now I have 2x400 MH 6500K Iwasaki and 2x96 W antinic 03 PCs and the Frogspawn is bleaching a little but the torch is fine. The Frogspawn like medium current. Just enough to strech but not enough to cause the polyps to string out and break. The Torch likes a good bit more current. I would say, meduim high. Feed mine with IPSF coral heaven and DT's phytoplankton also.
Good Luck,
Bill
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