Hammer Coral has Red

[Tomoya808]

It’s really difficult to say. Was the torch wild caught?

Not to my knowledge. They were obtained by another reefer that had fragged them from his hammer. I got this hammer, the galaxea, mushroom, and green hammer at the November Mason Dixon Frag Swap at That Pet Place in Lancaster, PA. The hammers were from the same vendor, though.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Not to my knowledge. They were obtained by another reefer that had fragged them from his hammer. I got this hammer, the galaxea, mushroom, and green hammer at the November Mason Dixon Frag Swap at That Pet Place in Lancaster, PA. The hammers were from the same vendor, though.

Ok, then the article I posted might not apply to your torch.

 

[Tomoya808]

Ok, then the article I posted might not apply to your torch.

It's all good. It is a good read and I feel like it isn't just going to apply to Euphyllias, but to many varieties of corals out there.

 

[Spare time]

Skimmer off and feed the fish the corals are starving,oh yea your phosphates way to high way to high said it again .50 That 163ppb unless your point . Is in wrong place.your ratio is wrong fix ratio fix cyano problem .example .1 phosphate is right ratio is 10 nitrates. No algae then.

Api phosphate test is horrible but spirulina will cause high phosphates

 

[Spare time]

I find it strange because I feed the tank a decent amount 3-4 days in a row and will take a day from feeding in between. So I am not sure why unless I should turn the protein skimmer off again... I used to feed the corals directly, but at this point I do not anymore with a turkey baster. I end up mixing the mysis, oyster feed, and spiraluna mix together and feed it all at once... The light is as high it can go with the AI Prime 16 stand and the hammers are both roughly 3-4inches from the bottom (glass not sandbed) from the tank. The calcium is the only thing I dose, but only when necessary since I have 16 corals, they are 5 zoas, 2 favias, 3 favites, a duncan, a winter's pipe organ, hairy mushroom, galaxea, andthe two hammers...

Do you have access to a par meter? You are running very little light and 0% royal blue. How tall is the tank?

I would also stop the spirulina as that is basically phosphate powder.

I would try to dose some amino acids daily to help with the 0 nitrate. That would be my first thing to do.


One other thing I personally would do is set the protein skimmer on a timer.

 

[Tomoya808]

Do you have access to a par meter? You are running very little light and 0% royal blue. How tall is the tank?

I would also stop the spirulina as that is basically phosphate powder.

I would try to dose some amino acids daily to help with the 0 nitrate. That would be my first thing to do.


One other thing I personally would do is set the protein skimmer on a timer.

I don't have a par meter sadly and I have the Waterbox Marine X 60.2 gal tank. I have the spirulina for my black pygmy angel which also has a mix of brine shrimp. I can definitely do the protein skimmer on a timer, but not sure how long for it to run... Possibly 12hrs or should I just do 8hrs?

 

[dedragon]

Then explain why my one zoa keeps growing new heads every other week?

Because zoas are really easy to keep, they are stretching a lot though meaning too little light (primes arent that strong, maybe mount them slightly closer to the water) Also the levels are kind of all over the place. I dont know if i would trust the api results at all, but stable parameters are key.
Either try salifert, red sea or hanna checkers for Nitrate, phosphate, mag, calc, alk. They might show different results from what you currently are seeing with api and really help you hone in on the problem

 

[dedragon]

That hammer is close to being dead though, they can come back but that one is pretty far gone, sorry. If nitrate is actually 0 try brightwell neonitrate

 

[Spare time]

I don't have a par meter sadly and I have the Waterbox Marine X 60.2 gal tank. I have the spirulina for my black pygmy angel which also has a mix of brine shrimp. I can definitely do the protein skimmer on a timer, but not sure how long for it to run... Possibly 12hrs or should I just do 8hrs?

You can play around with the skimmer on timer and see what happens. I personally would consider increasing the light intensity. I think the first thing though would be to dose some aminos or a little bit of nitrate.

A lot of times when trying to figure out why a coral isn't doing well, I try to have the tank with the issue match known settings/parameters than have successfully grown whatever coral is being discussed. It is hard to point out a single issue as the reason for something not doing well, but keeping a tank similar to others who have successfully kept said coral is usually a good guideline.

 

[131696]

Then explain why my one zoa keeps growing new heads every other week?

There trying to survive ,just like a anemone when stressed will split into 2 and hope 1 will survive ,it's there instinct to survive to make more before the parents die all animals do it We do it also strive to survive.

 

[Tomoya808]

You can play around with the skimmer on timer and see what happens. I personally would consider increasing the light intensity. I think the first thing though would be to dose some aminos or a little bit of nitrate.

A lot of times when trying to figure out why a coral isn't doing well, I try to have the tank with the issue match known settings/parameters than have successfully grown whatever coral is being discussed. It is hard to point out a single issue as the reason for something not doing well, but keeping a tank similar to others who have successfully kept said coral is usually a good guideline.

So the light setting that I have now is a modified version of a premade one on AI's website. However, it looks like when I originally downloaded Karen Vazquez's, it was a lot different than what it is as of current... Should I try that lighting instead of what I have currently? I will note that what I have currently was the older version of Ms. Vazquez's lighting that I had and modified it for 6 hours.

 

[dedragon]

It may just be the depth of the tank, its pretty easy to add an led bar light to increase par if needed. Orphek and reefbrite both make nice ones there are cheaper alternatives like 21led reefbar plus as well. I think the main issue to fix will be the parameters

 

[Tomoya808]

Here is my tank front view wise

 

[Tomoya808]

^

 

[dedragon]

you should add some more light imo, when you get those test kits back report the findings. A water change in the meantime will help everything get back to more normal conditions. Nitrate wont matter as there isnt any to begin with (but i doubt the api test as well)

 

[Tomoya808]

you should add some more light imo, when you get those test kits back report the findings. A water change in the meantime will help everything get back to more normal conditions. Nitrate wont matter as there isnt any to begin with (but i doubt the api test as well)

I will be honest, I haven't done a water change in almost 2-3 weeks. I was planning on doing one tonight, but wasn't sure with this situation...

So... with the spirulina causing my phosphates to rise supposedly, should I just feed purely mysis? I am just concerned of my midnight angelfish's diet...

Also what do you mean getting the test kits back? I'm a bit confused on that comment...

 

[dedragon]

you said earlier you were looking into getting better test kits, thought you may order them soon. Hanna is great for phosphate and nitrate, but i find salifert and red sea pro kits sufficient for alk and calcium if you know how to do a simplified titration test, which is easy to learn how to do.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Where in the tank in relation to your hammer in the picture is the galaxia?

 

[Tomoya808]

you said earlier you were looking into getting better test kits, thought you may order them soon. Hanna is great for phosphate and nitrate, but i find salifert and red sea pro kits sufficient for alk and calcium if you know how to do a simplified titration test, which is easy to learn how to do.

Sorry, my bad. I just placed an amazon order for the Nyos Nitrate and when I thought I got the Magnesium one of the Aquaforest brand, it was the Calcium... I just need to get the Magnesium and probably going to get the Nyos Magnesium test kit... I swear, this was finally keeping me up late last night and didn't know how I was going to stay awake to teach my students...

Light wise, what would you recommend on doing? I just switched back to the old version of Karen Vasquez's light setting, but I realized the one on the website that I see is not matching the picture when I download the pre-set on the My AI app...

 

[Tomoya808]

Where in the tank in relation to your hammer in the picture is the galaxia?

Here is a side pic of my tank on the right. Rock closest to you has the galaxia and the hammers are far away on the middle island there...