General questions, frogspawn, ph, missing clown lol

[Coach Vince]

Hey there,

I've been searching around a bit and the stuff I've found is kind of helping but I thought I would ask. I have three issues....

My frogspawn who normally opens decided not to open today. Light has been on for about an hour and all my other corals are going their thing. Not sure why.

Tested my PH this morning and it was really low but read that the morning is not the best time to test so I'll test later today.

Missing a clown... I had four and they were all getting along fine other than the normal this is my anemone stuff, not bites, no bumping, just a charge and stop before contact. At night the two bigger ones would sleep in their anemone and the other two would go to a different area of the tank separately. In the day the four all hang out in the same space. Today I don't see what I think is the smaller male of the four. Is it possible that he's hanging out behind my reef and I won't see him for a little bit? Or could he have been eaten? Or is there something he could have gotten into? He didn't jump out, and I didn't see him in the overflow, I just don't see him at all???

[billdogg]

Could you tell us a bit more about your tank?

Size, lighting, age, filtration, actual numbers for water parameters, other inhabitants?

As a general rule, more than two (paired) clowns in a tank, unless pretty large, ends up ending poorly.

The frogspawn may just be "doing it's thing" too. If everything else looks ok, then it is probably fine as well.

Without more specific information on your setup, however, it is impossible to say for sure.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tested my PH this morning and it was really low but read that the morning is not the best time to test so I'll test later today.

How low and how was it measured?

This has more:

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

[thegrun]

+1 to the above:
1. One day is nothing to worry about with the frogspawn, give it some time.
2. What is "really low"? Please list your water parameters, it will help us give better advice. Normally we do not worry about pH, alkalinity is a far more important water parameter to monitor.
3. Unless your tank is huge (300 gallons+) more than 2 clowns will not work out. The clown could be hiding or it just provided a meal for your CUC.

[Coach Vince]

The tank has been set up for about 5 days but it was a direct transfer, water, rocks, everything. It's a tank that has been set up for years. It's a 90G and the salinity is 1.23, ammonia is 0, PH seems to be about 7.8 and measured with the 5 ml 5 drops shake method. When I posted earlier I had just turned the lights on and I would say it was 7.4.

Found my clown He was in the overflow and I happened to see him with a light.

Filtration is wet dry and I did add a bunch of life yesterday. I'm not sure what you mean about inhabitants, did you want a list? All the fish are reef safe and yes I agree on the clown statements and am watching.

I don't have a protein skimmer but I think that's the one thing I need or need shortly.

I don't have a full water test kit yet so those are the only measurements I can provide at this time. I plan to test ph in another two hours.

[Coach Vince]

Oh Randy, thank you very much for that link, I will begin reading.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I generally wouldn't rely on a pH kit since you cannot calibrate it. But pH 7.8 is not a problem in a 5 day old tank anyway.