Hammer coral flow problems?

Dquad18 · Nov 11, 2019

So this weekend I took a trip to my LFS and got 2 new corals, a zoa frag and a hammer coral frag which looks AMAZING btw, as well as 4 astrea snails. My hammer is looking good im just having trouble finding the right placement and flow for it. My major problem is I think I've found the right flow, except that is when the powerhead in my tank is turned off. I recently got a new powerhead as I thought my previous one was too powerful, so I downgraded to the 240 GPH. Even then it still seems like when its on the hammer is getting pounded by the current. His frag plug is pretty wide so im having trouble placing him on the rocks. Any ideas? Should I turn the powerhead back on a play around with placing more? Ive got him in like a mid to high spot in the tank, I'm just worried about stressing him out to much

Additionally some of the tentacles that are hidden under big fat colorful ones are droopy and not as colorful, is this normal?

BeejReef · Nov 11, 2019

I think you've nailed it. Just too much flow. The "hidden" tentacles are the ones it almost always has retracted to guard itself against the flow. They don't get as much light bc they are retracted. That gives them the translucent, droopy appearance.

They can take a bit more flow than you would think, but it has to be random. Mine struggle when the majority hits them from the same side. Haven't seen your scape. I ended up putting mine on flat rocks in the sand so I could maneuver them into better flow by letting the rocks do some blocking for them.

Dquad18 · Nov 11, 2019

BeejReef said:
I think you've nailed it. Just too much flow. The "hidden" tentacles are the ones it almost always has retracted to guard itself against the flow. They don't get as much light bc they are retracted. That gives them the translucent, droopy appearance.

They can take a bit more flow than you would think, but it has to be random. Mine struggle when the majority hits them from the same side. Haven't seen your scape. I ended up putting mine on flat rocks in the sand so I could maneuver them into better flow by letting the rocks do some blocking for them.

This is the flow he’s getting from just my HOB filter without a powehead