hammer coral

[Matthew31]

Hey guys, Im new to the saltwater hobby, and I would like some constructive criticism on my hammer coral. Also any tips on getting my sand to be white again. If you guys could take a look at him and tell me based on pictures how he is doing.
A little info on my tank:
tank size- 54 gallon corner
lights- current marine ic pro
white- 5 percent
blue/green/red- 40 percent
aqua clear 70 hob
protein skimmer- reef octopus 1000 hob
2- current marine 660 gph power heads set to 70 percent
ph- 8.0-8.2
ammonia- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate 5-10
magnesium-1230
alkalinity- 8.3
sg- 1.024
temperature- 78
calcium-371
phosphate- 0.02
Livestock
2- ocellaris clowns
1- fire shrimp
1- blue leg hermit crab
5- astrea snails
2- nassarius snails
1- hammer coral
2- favia frags

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!!

Hammer looks good. How long has the tank been up and running?

 

[Matthew31]

The tank has been running for about 4 months in total. I started to add things around 10 weeks.

 

[shifty2427]

Diamondback goby equals clean sand bed.

 

[Matthew31]

Thanks for your quick response. Do you think when the goby stirs the sand up will it upset the hammer thats on the sand bed?

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!! I'm found of conchs myself to stir the substrate.

 

[Matthew31]

Diamondback goby equals clean sand bed.

shifty2427 thank you for the advice! nice clean sand bed. Only problem I ran into was a airborne goby haha.

 

[Chris1081]

Always has good luck with diamond goby just make sure you have some type of lid because they can launch themselves like a rocket especially when spooked.

 

[Jesterrace]

Diamondback goby equals clean sand bed.

Agreed. They can make a mess with the sand piles and digging, but they provide an invaluable aeration service that keeps the sand bed pretty clean. I wouldn't have a tank without one personally. Also your cleanup crew is pretty light for that size tank. As mentioned a lid of some sort will fix the airborne factor. I have been fortunate with my fish the only fish that attempted to go airborne on me was my Scissortail dartfish. I heard a loud thunk sound against the top of my tank but that's as far as it went. Mine go into their caves or burrows when spooked.

 

[ReefJake123]

Diamondback goby equals clean sand bed.

I also have a diamond back they clean sand like crazy and hammer looks good easy coral to keep alive

 

[Zack K]

Hammer is looking good! Keep it up. Feel free to turn up your lights. Their my not be enough light down the road!

Glad to see a fellow corner tank! Definitely a cool tank if I do say so myself.

-Zack