My first Coral...is this normal?

[reef dude]

Today i purchased my very first coral. A very nice piece of frogspawn. I was told that with the lighting i am currently using(2 175w MH 5,500k and 2 40w actinic 03 blues) that i will do quite well. I've started to dose kalk for the past week to 2 weeks and the calcium is apprx 380 ppm and alkalinity is apprx 3.7 meq/L I was told that i should try and bump up the alk a little bit but was i smart to buy the coral under these circumstances?
Its been in my tank for about 5 hours and it started to open up a little bit and them all of a sudden it completely shut. is this nnormal? i have a lot of questions because this is my first coral so i dont know what to expect.....
also, how do i acclimate it to my lights, at the lfs, they used the same lights as i do, MH and actinic....

 

[bobothewizard]

Just out of curiosity how did you acclimate it to your tank?

 

[starfishjackedme]

My frogspawn would stay open the whole time the lights are on. It has definite preferences to current. Mine likes fairly low current with any powerheads aimed away. It likes just enough flow to make it sway back and forth but any more than that, and it shuts until current is reduced. Hope that helps. I also feed mine chopped shrimp on a weekly schedule.

 

[reef dude]

I acclimated it by using the shot glass method, the one that SWF.com tells you how to use. It took about 1 or 1 and a half hours maybe. Also, i think i may have touched the top of it while i was placing it in my tanks, it felt kinda like a sting on my finger for a little while, is that possible?. I just sort of wedged it in between two pieces of rocks.

 

[sterling]

My frogspawn is up towards the top of the rocks and in medium current and seems to like it there very much. Although it fell over on top of itself (I was redecorating a big) and got kind of smushed. Seems to be recovering.

 

[jedininja]

If all your water parameters are good, then you should give your coral a few days for it to fully open up. And by that time, if it is still not fully open, the position of it in your tank is also a factor. My frogspawn seems to like a low current and a medium amount of light.
If the coral looked fine in the LFS, everything should be fine. Just give it a little bit of time to adjust to your tank.

 

[nm reef]

Sounds like you've got plenty of light for a frogspawn...they do well in moderate to high lighting. If your water levels are stable and your current is moderate I bet it'll open up in a few days. They do tend to take a while to adjust to new settings....good luck with your new addition. Frogspawns and hammers are amoung my favorite corals...both can be tempermental...but in the proper conditions they do very well.

 

[slothy]

ive learned that frogspawns dont like the water temp at 90

 

[wamp]

As most have already said.... They like high to moderate light and moderate current. Other than that, there tough corals.

 

[reef dude]

Thanks everyone! It keeps opening up a little, then closing back up a little, and so on. It looked BEAUTIFUL in the lfs, which is the reason i bought it! By the way, will my clowns rest in this coral at all?

 

[nm reef]

Yes clowns have been known to accept numerous corals as a host...but it can cause problems for the coral.....I'd personally avoid letting it happen if possible.
As mentioned above temp above 82 or so can cause stress to corals like frogspawns and hammers. I lost the first of each I had due to a heater malfunction...learned the hard way the value of a stable temp.....