Hammer coral getting worse

S550stang · Oct 28, 2019

So my hammer coral is started off good when I bought it back in October 5th the first week it looked great then it started looking less open and now it looks to me like I just might loose it, i don’t understand, my other corals are looking great but this one isn’t happy at all, I will post pictures of how it looked when I bought it and how it looks today, also I will post a picture of my parameters, I had a bag of activated carbon the size of a soft ball in my refugium, my tank is a 40 gallon and Mayb it was too much carbon ? I took it out now because i also have a protein skimmer and I heard that i don’t really need both, well i hope i can figure out my problem because I love hammer corals, oh I forgot to mention that I have been adding Kent purple tech because somehow my calcium has been getting low, I put some yesterday and my calcium is at 360 today I thought it was suppose to raise your calcium levels

Strawberry · Oct 29, 2019

S550stang said:
So my hammer coral is started off good when I bought it back in October 5th the first week it looked great then it started looking less open and now it looks to me like I just might loose it, i don’t understand, my other corals are looking great but this one isn’t happy at all, I will post pictures of how it looked when I bought it and how it looks today, also I will post a picture of my parameters, I had a bag of activated carbon the size of a soft ball in my refugium, my tank is a 40 gallon and Mayb it was too much carbon ? I took it out now because i also have a protein skimmer and I heard that i don’t really need both, well i hope i can figure out my problem because I love hammer corals, oh I forgot to mention that I have been adding Kent purple tech because somehow my calcium has been getting low, I put some yesterday and my calcium is at 360 today I thought it was suppose to raise your calcium levels

You will continuously hear the same thing, “Different reefers have success using different parameters, but stability is key.” I would suggest to stop dosing and fiddling with the tank at all, keeping up regular activities, for 3 days after doing a your regular water change. On the day you do the water change, your parameters, especially calcium, should be at its highest. Give the tank 3 days to consume what it will and perform its nutrient transport, then measure your parameters again. This will give you a better idea of what your tank has the biggest fluctuations in. By stopping your dosing and just letting the tank do it’s thing, you’ll be able to subtract your initial measurement from your measurement after 3 days, then divide by 3, and you’ll have your daily consumption.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 29, 2019

To start with....... grab a water sample and take it to a trusted LFS to have salinity and all parameters tested to verify readings and compare with yours. I as many others find API Test kits less than reliable. I suspect ph and salinity as contributors to your hammer. They thrive well under moderate light and water flow also

S550stang · Oct 29, 2019

vetteguy53081 said:
To start with....... grab a water sample and take it to a trusted LFS to have salinity and all parameters tested to verify readings and compare with yours. I as many others find API Test kits less than reliable. I suspect ph and salinity as contributors to your hammer. They thrive well under moderate light and water flow also

Didnt think about taking the water to get tested to confirm it thanks

S550stang · Oct 29, 2019

Strawberry said:
You will continuously hear the same thing, “Different reefers have success using different parameters, but stability is key.” I would suggest to stop dosing and fiddling with the tank at all, keeping up regular activities, for 3 days after doing a your regular water change. On the day you do the water change, your parameters, especially calcium, should be at its highest. Give the tank 3 days to consume what it will and perform its nutrient transport, then measure your parameters again. This will give you a better idea of what your tank has the biggest fluctuations in. By stopping your dosing and just letting the tank do it’s thing, you’ll be able to subtract your initial measurement from your measurement after 3 days, then divide by 3, and you’ll have your daily consumption.

Good point yes I need to start messing with the tank lol I have moved the hammer coral at least 4 times in less than 2 weeks trying to find a comfortable place for it

Reefer1978 · Oct 29, 2019

If you take a sample to the store - make sure they test Alkalinity. You mentioned dosing Calcium, Calcium and Alkalinity should be dosed together for stability.

Not sure if you posted this before, how old is the tank?

S550stang · Oct 29, 2019

Reefer1978 said:
If you take a sample to the store - make sure they test Alkalinity. You mentioned dosing Calcium, Calcium and Alkalinity should be dosed together for stability.

Not sure if you posted this before, how old is the tank?

Yes I have posted before lol I will be asking plenty of questions since I’m new to the reef hobby I apologize in advance ,my tank is actually 2 1/2 months old, It feels longer because i stared the project back in July, my wife says I have no patience since I want to add everything to the tank already, I even added copepods and amphipods to the tank and I can see they have already colonized on my refugium and my tank. I will mention to check alkalinity for sure when I go thanks for the help

Reefer1978 · Oct 29, 2019

S550stang said:
Yes I have posted before lol I will be asking plenty of questions since I’m new to the reef hobby I apologize in advance ,my tank is actually 2 1/2 months old, It feels longer because i stared the project back in July, my wife says I have no patience since I want to add everything to the tank already, I even added copepods and amphipods to the tank and I can see they have already colonized on my refugium and my tank. I will mention to check alkalinity for sure when I go thanks for the help

I am just like you when I first got into the hobby what feels like a decade ago, and I also rushed and wanted to add everything to the tank as soon as I could. Your system is still pretty new, and Euphilia are not the easiest to keep for new reefers. Get the parameters checked out, for sure replace that test kit with something better, I was very disappointed in API when I got into saltwater, and give the tank time to settle and start maturing.

S550stang · Oct 29, 2019

Reefer1978 said:
I am just like you when I first got into the hobby what feels like a decade ago, and I also rushed and wanted to add everything to the tank as soon as I could. Your system is still pretty new, and Euphilia are not the easiest to keep for new reefers. Get the parameters checked out, for sure replace that test kit with something better, I was very disappointed in API when I got into saltwater, and give the tank time to settle and start maturing.

Yeah I’m not buying anything else anymore until my tank is matured

S550stang · Nov 2, 2019

Somehow my hammer is getting better now, great news it made my day when I saw it ...

Reefer1978 · Nov 2, 2019

That is awesome indeed. Did you do anything or it's getting better on it's own?

S550stang · Nov 2, 2019

Well I removed the big ball of carbon I had next to the return pump on Tuesday, also I stopped dosing calcium to the tank, my tank got cloudy right before the coral started to come out I think I had a calcium buildup