Toadstool Leather Placement

[shadofax]

I had a few general toadstool leather question. First, if ~1/2 of the stalk is touching rock will this be okay and allow the leather to attach. I am just worried about stagnant water and tissue damage from the rock. Second, I bought the leather and it was slimmed this was on saturday and it still shows no sign of polyp extension. I was just wanted to know on average how long toadstools stay closed when they go through this cycle. The tank is a 29 gallon it is lit with a 150W 14,000K DE MH, S.G. is 1.024 and nitrates are ~2.5ppm. I do biweekly 5 gallon water changes which is ~10% of the system. I use IO salt for the water changes with good RODI water. I also skim with a ASM G-2 with a modified Gen-X 1000 meshwheel. Flow is ~1200gph from 2 Hydor Korelia 2's. My other 3 coral are doing great (Colt coral, pom pom xenia, and regular xenia elongata. I guess I am just starting to get nervous since the leather is starting to get little white specks on the cap of the toadstool and I can tell if it is necrosis or the slime peeling off the coral.

Thanks

 

[returnofsid]

That's a HUGE amount of light for a Toadstool Leather. Your nitrates are pretty high at 2.5. In a 29 gallon tank, you would be much better off doing weekly water changes instead of every other week. I'd keep your water change amount at 5 gallons though and just do them more often ie...5 gal/week.

The white specks you're seeing could be burns caused by the intensity of the lighting. It could also be bleaching....or it could just be your particular leather acclimating to your system. Leather's are usually pretty hardy but also can be finnicky. I've had a couple that took several weeks to fully expand. Even now, mine will go through cycles where they'll not expand at all for a few days. Give yours a bit more time and see what happens.

 

[shadofax]

The toadstool came from a tank with 250W SE MH's at the same depth. I have also cut the photoperiod to half of the tank it came from to allow for proper acclimation to the tank. This has been sufficient in the past do you think I should take off an hour or two just to be sure on the photoperiod or should I just leave it alone and see what happen.

 

[returnofsid]

Well, considering it came from an even higher light source, I think you'll be fine. Leather's are just a lower light demanding coral. Shortening your photo-period may have a detrimental effect on your other corals. I'd just leave it be and give it time to fully acclimate. They can take awhile. Toadstools are known for creating a slimy or waxy coating on a regular basis to help shed detritus off of them. That's probably what you're seeing. During this buildup, they usually don't extend polyps. I believe it's also a protective reaction when feeling stressed. Just the simple move could have caused it and it'll acclimate soon and be just fine.

 

[iwantone]

Depends on the type of toadstool. My yellow sacro and my green polyped sacro sit under halides and love it. Intermittent flow that moves the polyps is essential.

 

[shadofax]

I think the flow in the tank is very good. I have the 2 Korelia 2's that move the water. By watching the xenia they have periods where they do not move hardly at all and other times where they get a decent amount of flow. The way I have them pointed is producing nice random flow in the tank that the corals seem to love. The only odd ball is the toadstool.

 

[shadofax]

Just for an update the toadstool has finally started to shed its slime and hopefully I see some polyp extension when the lights come on in a few minutes.

 

[morgan]

u say that the leathers are low light demand this is true they will live in lower light buit if u compare polyp extension under t-5s to mh they cane them i gave my mate a toadstoll went from a fluro tank to 2 150wat metal halides has never looked so good

 

[Tieg]

That's a HUGE amount of light for a Toadstool Leather. Your nitrates are pretty high at 2.5. In a 29 gallon tank, you would be much better off doing weekly water changes instead of every other week. I'd keep your water change amount at 5 gallons though and just do them more often ie...5 gal/week.

The white specks you're seeing could be burns caused by the intensity of the lighting. It could also be bleaching....or it could just be your particular leather acclimating to your system. Leather's are usually pretty hardy but also can be finnicky. I've had a couple that took several weeks to fully expand. Even now, mine will go through cycles where they'll not expand at all for a few days. Give yours a bit more time and see what happens.

You mention that nitrates are pretty high....I was under the impression from my research as well as the info I have gotten from friends and 2 of my local vendors that any nitrate level under 20 ppm is good....nitrites and ammonia should be kept as close to 0 as possible...how is 2.5 for nitrates high?

On a different note...my wife placed a toadstool in our 29 gal tank...it went 2 days looking bad...but then I noticed it started to extend its polyps and now it looks really great. My lighting is the stock that comes with a 29 gal aquapod. Can't wait to get a bigger tank though and start to upgrade