HELP! Hammer Coral Not Opening

[Jaws0508]

Hi, I bought a green hammer coral a couple days ago and its not opening up. Is this normal or is there something I have to be worrying about? Thank you

 

[NanoDJS]

whats your parameters

 

[Jaws0508]

Right now I only have a refractometer, but I will get testing equipment soon. Is 1.023 to low for salinity?

 

[NanoDJS]

yeah you want around 1.026 thats what myself and alot of people accept / run

 

[Jaws0508]

Okay, but is that the likely problem or does it just have to acclimate to its new home?

 

[Willu]

It is low, but your hammer shouldn't be that annoyed. If you will be increasing it, do it slowly through water changes.
Have you properly calibrated your refractometer with proper calibration solution?
How old is your tank?
How did you go about acclimating the coral, that is did you float and dip?
Was the coral healthy when you purchased it?
What lights are you using and at what settings?
What kind of flow do you have in the tank?

There is not much that I can help you with, without knowing more about your parameters. When things don't look too great I would advise just doing some water changes with matching salinity and temperature ofc.

 

[NanoDJS]

LPS will be the first corals to show you your water is off , it wouldnt need to acclimate if the water was the same as where you saw it open and bought it

 

[Tamberav]

You are flying blind which is probably fine for softies and even lps for experienced reefers.....

Time to get some test kits.

 

[Jaws0508]

Properly calibrated the refractometer
Tank is about 4 months old
I floated then dipped the hammer coral
It looked healthy when I got it
I am using steves leds biocube 29 set up running 32% blue, 23% white
I don't have a lot of flow in the tank

 

[Jaws0508]

@Tamberav What kind of test kits should I get?

 

[NanoDJS]

what is not a lot of flow? they need flow

 

[Jaws0508]

I just have the return pump for flow. Its a upgraded version that pumps 320 gph

 

[NanoDJS]

grab a cheap powerhead for in the tank area

 

[Jaws0508]

I have a extra one so I will try that, but I feel like it will be to much

 

[Tamberav]

@Tamberav What kind of test kits should I get?

Alk...Nitrate and Phosphate would be my first choices. Not API. Get red sea or salifert or Hanna.

Mg and calcium are the others more frequently tested but not as likey to be an issue. You will probably want them at some point.

 

[Jaws0508]

Why not API?

 

[Tamberav]

You definitely need more flow too. I have a MP10 on my 25g with lots of hammer corals and a powerful return pump.

 

[Tamberav]

Why not API?

The phosphate one is useless.... Alk and nitrate can work in a pinch but may not be as accurate. The nitrate one is a pain to use imo.

You get what you pay for.

 

[Jaws0508]

Yeah, I added a power head, hopefully that helps, but why do you not recommend the api? The hannas instruments and red sea seem kinda expensive to me and I am just wondering why API doesn't work.

 

[Willu]

Because API is not very precise and also has accuracy problems, for example the alk test can only test for whole numbers and nothing in between, the nitrate test is super annoying to do, the PO4 test tests way to high to be of any use.