Hammer Coral Help

[csd99]

I’ve had this hammer for about 3 months and it’s been doing pretty alright. Recently the two left heads have both been receding on the left side. They’ll open up fully at times and at others will be partially receded. A week ago I had a return pump go out and I was not able to replace it for about 20 hours. The hammer was upset by this at the time but I’m not sure that’s the cause of its current situation.

Calcium: 420
Mg: 1400
Alk: 8.0
No3: 9
Phos: 0.03

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Lavey29]

Numbers aren't to bad so maybe lights or flow. They need low flow and the position you have it in could be brushing up against the rocks. Corals decline from the inside out so they can be struggling for weeks or months before they show it. Get nitrates 10 to 15 and phosphate. 05 to .1 for LPS. 125 to 150 par.

 

[csd99]

Numbers aren't to bad so maybe lights or flow. They need low flow and the position you have it in could be brushing up against the rocks. Corals decline from the inside out so they can be struggling for weeks or months before they show it. Get nitrates 10 to 15 and phosphate. 05 to .1 for LPS. 125 to 150 par.

Thank you! I do expect flow and lighting may be a bit high as I’m running a mixed reef with a good amount of hard corals. I expect par to be at about 175 at that location based on a BRS investigates video using the same light I use. As for flow, I suppose I may have to do some trial and error. If things get worse I will likely try to place it in a calmer section of the tank. It definitely has some decent jiggling motion

 

[doubleshot00]

Hammers should twitch a bit and not wave like you can with torches. My Euphyllia are around 175-200 par as long as it was slowly acclimated to that intensity they should be fine.

Imo your phos is probably zero. Idk if that effects Euphyllia at zero as mine is always +.1.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

There might be additional factors, but they're starving with nutrients that low.

 

[csd99]

There might be additional factors, but they're starving with nutrients that low.

I spot feed weekly with reef roids and dose AB+ daily. I have a huge torch that seems to be thriving. Combined with that, what do you suggest the nutrient levels should be? I figured phos at .1 would be too high for the Acropora that I also keep but I am definitely still pretty new to the hobby.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve had this hammer for about 3 months and it’s been doing pretty alright. Recently the two left heads have both been receding on the left side. They’ll open up fully at times and at others will be partially receded. A week ago I had a return pump go out and I was not able to replace it for about 20 hours. The hammer was upset by this at the time but I’m not sure that’s the cause of its current situation.

Calcium: 420
Mg: 1400
Alk: 8.0
No3: 9
Phos: 0.03

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

The coral are stressed and d not look terrible and this may be due to (things to check):
Low calcium (below 380)
Too much flow
Too much white intensitty
Starvation ( feed mysis shrimp 2-3x a week)
High phosphates (above .1)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I spot feed weekly with reef roids and dose AB+ daily. I have a huge torch that seems to be thriving. Combined with that, what do you suggest the nutrient levels should be? I figured phos at .1 would be too high for the Acropora that I also keep but I am definitely still pretty new to the hobby.

Calcium: 420
Mg: 1400
Alk: 8.0
No3: 9
Phos: 0.03

Where do you see phos at .1? (Which is not too high for LPS at all)

 

[csd99]

Where do you see phos at .1? (Which is not too high for LPS at all)

Doubleshot had said theirs was around that value. I just figured using that as a target would be too high for my SPS

 

[doubleshot00]

Doubleshot had said theirs was around that value. I just figured using that as a target would be too high for my SPS

I have sps in my tank and it grows just fine. Actually my po4 is probably .2-.3 right now

All im saying is i bet its zero as hobby test kits are not exact and perfect. So i bet its zero. If your running Gfo maybe take it out a bit and see what happens.

Also I couldn’t keep hammers until my tank was a bit more mature. I bet it was around the 6-9 month mark when they started to take off.

 

[bluerider098]

Have you tried a large waterchange? Thats always my first go to.

 

[csd99]

Also I couldn’t keep hammers until my tank was a bit more mature. I bet it was around the 6-9 month mark when they started to take off.

Good to know. I'm at about 5 months in this tank but half the rockwork was transferred over from a tank that had been running for a year. I definitely didn't expect the hammer to be giving me more trouble than a torch and some SPS! Thanks for the info

Have you tried a large waterchange? Thats always my first go to.

I am prepping to do a 30% tonight