Hammer

[cboylan1606]

Why does my hammer do this but never really fluffs out

 

[MichaelReefer]

Normally means its irritated. Have you checked your Salinity and alk?

 

[uhgster1]

Target feed it once or twice a week. Nothing heavy, some mysis or reef chili or reef roids. Or all three mixed up like I do! Just don’t over do it and turn off the flow for a few minutes.

 

[cboylan1606]

Normally means its irritated. Have you checked your Salinity and alk?

Sg 1.025
Dkh as of last night was 7.1

 

[cboylan1606]

Target feed it once or twice a week. Nothing heavy, some mysis or reef chili or reef roids. Or all three mixed up like I do! Just don’t over do it and turn off the flow for a few minutes.

How do you mix all 3 just a little of each or do you have a specific way

 

[JKDMan]

Sg 1.025
Dkh as of last night was 7.1

dKH sounds a bit low I think. i keep mine around 9-10.

 

[cboylan1606]

dKH sounds a bit low I think. i keep mine around 9-10.

It is low The bad thing is I just did a water change Tuesday night however I didn’t check it before the water change. Was changing water in my qt and decided to go ahead and do the dt as well. Trying to get it up some tho and I just set up a doser so I can keep it stable. Seems to drop pretty fast .5 to 1 dkh a day. The tank has only been running for 5-6 months now

 

[JKDMan]

do you have a lot of stony coral or coraline algae ?

 

[polyppal]

Phosphates?

 

[uhgster1]

How do you mix all 3 just a little of each or do you have a specific way

A cube of mysis, and a bit of roids and chili. Enough to make it pasty not globby. I have a target feeder (smaller hole than a regular turkey baster), but be careful and steady and just let it drip on the heads. You might see a reaction (mouths opening) or not. But you will see a heavy mucus looking layer form. Give them a few minutes (5-10) before turning the flow back on to eat and you’re in business. Over time you will see them react to feeding, it’s pretty satisfying.

 

[cboylan1606]

A cube of mysis, and a bit of roids and chili. Enough to make it pasty not globby. I have a target feeder (smaller hole than a regular turkey baster), but be careful and steady and just let it drip on the heads. You might see a reaction (mouths opening) or not. But you will see a heavy mucus looking layer form. Give them a few minutes (5-10) before turning the flow back on to eat and you’re in business. Over time you will see them react to feeding, it’s pretty satisfying.

So target fed some mysis yesterday and this is what it looks like today. When I first got it about a month ago it was extended out a lot more

 

[uhgster1]

It’ll take a little bit, just be consistent. It’ll pay off. Give it a week or two.

 

[cboylan1606]

It’ll take a little bit, just be consistent. It’ll pay off. Give it a week or two.

Also tested my nitrate tonight and it’s in between 10 and 20 so I’m gonna do yet another water change to get down to at least 10 I still have another week or so of fallow but I will target feed it and my acan a few times a week and see how they do

 

[cboylan1606]

I think it’s looking better now

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

Target feed it once or twice a week. Nothing heavy, some mysis or reef chili or reef roids. Or all three mixed up like I do! Just don’t over do it and turn off the flow for a few minutes.

I have dozens of hammers and have never fed them ever. Of all corals they have a very weak feeding response, I do not believe the polyp recession is due to lack of direct feeding. Most likely has something to do with tank chemistry. Low ALK, nitrates, phosphates would be my first things I looked at. Also check salinity.

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

Sg 1.025
Dkh as of last night was 7.1

ALK is the single most important thing in the tank next to salinity. 7.1 is too low, you need to dose dkh is you are not already. Nitrates at 10 is great, lps and soft corals like dirty water. I run mine around 20 and look at look at my hammers.

 

[vetteguy53081]

low alk is one of the issues. Also location. Most do best at lower half of tank.
Moderate light and water flow
alk 8-9
ph 8.2
mag 1300
CA 440
salinity 1.025
temp 77-79
nitrate < .04
phos < .03

 

[cboylan1606]

I did start raising my alk as of last night dkh was 8.4
Cal was 468
I don’t have a mag test kit yet