Hammer coral okay. Dying?

[Joethefish]

Hi so this is my first post on the forum. I have a 15g reef tank that I setup about 7 months ago. I have 2 clown fish a goby, a bunch of zoas, a green mushroom, gsp, and a new hammer coral I got yesterday. I’ve had hammers before (1) but it was bigger and seemed stronger. It died from a calcium deficiency. Anyway, I feel like this one is looking rough. Calcium 415 ppm. Ammonia nitrate nitrite 0. Salinity 1 .027. I drip acclimated for 1.5 hrs. Is it just acclimating? I have a 130 gph power head also and this is the link (https://www.u-buy.com.tw/en/product...light-with-dual-channel-wired-controller-nano) to the light I have. (6.5 hrs a day) the hammer it had some algae on it so I used a turkey baster to get it off but that’s it

 

[CrimsonTide]

Turn the flow back on tonight if you can. When its dark the coral will probably retract some so it won't hurt it. That way when the lights come on tomorrow it can have already adjusted to the flow overnight. Remount it upright. Get a clean up crew for the algae. Trochus and turbo snails for sure and astrea. The nassarius will only eat leftover food and waste so won't help with algae they do however help with waste. I wouldn't try feeding the coral again for a couple days or like a week. It won't stay alive by feeding it at this point the light is important not food. Food is like a bonus item for them. Stable systems is the real food. Lastly I would run your lights for at least 8 hrs but I would recommend 10hrs everyday. Most of us run light for 12hrs ++. Some for only 10ish just depends.

 

[Joethefish]

oh yes for sure need some snails for the algae at least. The Nassarius snails are fun and help the sand and eat left over food but won't touch the algae. Get a couple mexican turbo and some astrea or trochus

At least try a couple mexican turbo snails first before going with something like reef flux.

Ok sounds good. I went to the store and guy working there was helping my find a clean up crew and showed me the Mexican turbo snails but said that they were sick and not to buy them. I’ll see if they have a better batch when I go next time. Thank you for all your help this far!

 

[Joethefish]

O

Turn the flow back on tonight if you can. When its dark the coral will probably retract some so it won't hurt it. That way when the lights come on tomorrow it can have already adjusted to the flow overnight. Remount it upright. Get a clean up crew for the algae. Trochus and turbo snails for sure and astrea. The nassarius will only eat leftover food and waste so won't help with algae they do however help with waste. I wouldn't try feeding the coral again for a couple days or like a week. It won't stay alive by feeding it at this point the light is important not food. Food is like a bonus item for them. Stable systems is the real food. Lastly I would run your lights for at least 8 hrs but I would recommend 10hrs everyday. Most of us run light for 12hrs ++. Some for only 10ish just depends.

Ok yeah I was planning to pick up some Mexican turbo snails and will turn up the time and the the light on for it’s next cycle. I turned the flow back on last night.

 

[CrimsonTide]

O

Ok yeah I was planning to pick up some Mexican turbo snails and will turn up the time and the the light on for it’s next cycle. I turned the flow back on last night.

Yay!!! Just keep updating here maybe. Hopefully the hammer will do better.

 

[Joethefish]

Yay!!! Just keep updating here maybe. Hopefully the hammer will do better.

Just came home to this. The pic is without the flow on but for the video the flow is on. It looks worse

 

[Shirak]

Just came home to this. The pic is without the flow on but for the video the flow is on. It looks worse

very bad It's not going to make it. Brown Jelly Disease. I would contact the shipper. If this is only 2nd day in the tank it was never going to make it.

Turn the flow off and carefully remove it so you keep as much of the brown muck with the coral as possible. It will smell horrid too..

 

[Joethefish]

very bad It's not going to make it. Brown Jelly Disease. I would contact the shipper. If this is only 2nd day in the tank it was never going to make it.

Turn the flow off and carefully remove it so you keep as much of the brown muck with the coral as possible. It will smell horrid too..

Oh no . I will contact them. Hasn’t even been 48 hours.

 

[Shirak]

I can see the flow better in this video. The corals will not appreciate being hit from the same side continuously. If you can't really randomize the strength and have a second pump to move things in a different direction periodically, you should think about having it point more up towards the surface so it can bounce around more and disperse throughout the tank before reaching the corals.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I would not drip acclimate next time. Best thing you can do for a shipped coral is get it in flowing healthy water ASAP.

 

[Joethefish]

I can see the flow better in this video. The corals will not appreciate being hit from the same side continuously. If you can't really randomize the strength and have a second pump to move things in a different direction periodically, you should think about having it point more up towards the surface so it can bounce around more and disperse throughout the tank before reaching the corals.

Ok. Could that be what did it in? I removed and threw the coral out as I don’t want it polluting my tank.

 

[Shirak]

Ok. Could that be what did it in? I removed and threw the coral out as I don’t want it polluting my tank.

No I don't think so.

 

[Joethefish]

No I don't think so.

This is a pick I took of it after I took it out of the tank

 

[Mxracer65]

Beautiful piece. Any tips?

I absolutely just left it alone in low to medium water flow. Never fed it just let it do it's thing. He grew at the bottom of a 24" deep tank with a cheap coralife led on top.

 

[Joethefish]

No I don't think so.

Ok the seller gave me a full refund. Yesterday I went to my lfs to pick up some snails and got a new hammer. How’s it look for it’s like 20th hour in the tank?

 

[Shirak]

Ok the seller gave me a full refund. Yesterday I went to my lfs to pick up some snails and got a new hammer. How’s it look for it’s like 20th hour in the tank?

Super!!! New hammer looks nice! Very pretty colors!

So question on the brown stringy stuff.. does it seem to disappear at night and then come back during the day after the lights have been on a while? The stuff that I can sort of see on the sand. Is it on the rocks too?

 

[Joethefish]

Super!!! New hammer looks nice! Very pretty colors!

So question on the brown stringy stuff.. does it seem to disappear at night and then come back during the day after the lights have been on a while? The stuff that I can sort of see on the sand. Is it on the rocks too?

Thanks! As for the stringy stuff no. The light gives off a blue ish Color to the tank. That is algae. I know this sounds horrible but I do not have an ro/di system at the moment and the algae is a real pain. I try to use distilled or premixed salt water when possible. This might be a better picture (assuming this is what you were talking about)

 

[Shirak]

Thanks! As for the stringy stuff no. The light gives off a blue ish Color to the tank. That is algae. I know this sounds horrible but I do not have an ro/di system at the moment and the algae is a real pain. I try to use distilled or premixed salt water when possible. This might be a better picture (assuming this is what you were talking about)

Gotcha ok Yes that was what I was looking at. Algae is always a pain LOL The snails will help. You can stir the sand periodically. Best to give it a gravel vacuum with water changes. Each month vacuum a portion of the sand bed.

RODI is a nice thing to have but as long as you are using good clean water for top up and saltwater it's fine.

 

[Joethefish]

Gotcha ok Yes that was what I was looking at. Algae is always a pain LOL The snails will help. You can stir the sand periodically. Best to give it a gravel vacuum with water changes. Each month vacuum a portion of the sand bed.

RODI is a nice thing to have but as long as you are using good clean water for top up and saltwater it's fine.

Yes that’s what I’m doing right now with each water change. I used to think ro di was a must but in my few months of reef keeping it does not seem to have much effect except for algae growth (although I don’t now what is like to have filtered water so that might not be causing the algae, but I assume it is). I try to keep on top of it as much as I can lol. Every minute month or so I do a larger water change so I can start fresh in terms of algae growth

 

[Shirak]

Yes that’s what I’m doing right now with each water change. I used to think ro di was a must but in my few months of reef keeping it does not seem to have much effect except for algae growth (although I don’t now what is like to have filtered water so that might not be causing the algae, but I assume it is). I try to keep on top of it as much as I can lol. Every minute month or so I do a larger water change so I can start fresh in terms of algae growth

Most reefers use RODI because of the potential for contaminates in other sources of water, such as heavy metals. Some of which could be highly toxic to some tank inhabitants. Or cause other things like excessive algae etc. Every time you add water for evaporation these things will build up in concentration. Doing a large water change will help but it will not decrease potential contaminates down to the level they started at originally. Over time the levels can creep higher and higher. It may work for now but down the road it may not. So it really depends on your water and what's in it and how much. What you are keeping in your tank. And how large your water changes are. The only way to get rid of build up of contaminates is a 100% water change, which is probably not feasible. The alternative is to minimize adding anything other than what's in the new salt water and dosed on purpose.

Personally I would look into a small RODI system. If you do shop for one, make sure it has standard 10" filter housings so you are not stuck with some brand specific filter system.

 

[Joethefish]

Most reefers use RODI because of the potential for contaminates in other sources of water, such as heavy metals. Some of which could be highly toxic to some tank inhabitants. Or cause other things like excessive algae etc. Every time you add water for evaporation these things will build up in concentration. Doing a large water change will help but it will not decrease potential contaminates down to the level they started at originally. Over time the levels can creep higher and higher. It may work for now but down the road it may not. So it really depends on your water and what's in it and how much. What you are keeping in your tank. And how large your water changes are. The only way to get rid of build up of contaminates is a 100% water change, which is probably not feasible. The alternative is to minimize adding anything other than what's in the new salt water and dosed on purpose.

Personally I would look into a small RODI system. If you do shop for one, make sure it has standard 10" filter housings so you are not stuck with some brand specific filter system.

Ok. I will try to find a reasonable priced one. If I can’t down the road it seems like a must so if I can’t find one in the near future I will just buy the cheapest quality one I can find. Also, do you have recommendations on cheaper corals for a mixed reef tank? Should I start a new thread for this?