Need help with hammer coral

[Vinnys reef]

Hope this is the right place to post this thread my hammer coral has not been opening up all the way for over 4 week I have not changed much I have a frog spawn right above it and it’s doing fine there was growth little heads developing and they have seemed to stop and die off and the three main head seem to have had stop inflating I’ll add pic and give you my water test reports I really love this coral and don’t want it to die

 

[Copingwithpods]

It looks like your biggest issue is stability. Get that under control and I'm sure everyone will perk up alot.

 

[Vinnys reef]

So hard to do in a 13 gal tank do you think if I put it in a lower or higher flow area my kh went crazy when I add kh buffer to my ato tank but the hammer was showing stress way before that could it be my dosing I started aqua forest components strong

 

[JJ Ligs]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. I would personally stop dosing in that small of a tank. Rely on your water changes and water level to maintain stability. Dosing in that small a volume of water will cause a swing every time you dose.

 

[Cnelson93]

Like stated above stability is a big thing, especially that alk, looks like its been swinging a lot and that’ll wreak havoc in a reef.

 

[Copingwithpods]

If you are going the no water change route I suggest you read up on it, honestly it's a bit overkill for a 13g. With your size tank and level of demand, minor 2 part dosing and water changes every 2 weeks should be more than enough to keep up with your demand.

 

[Bgriff0819]

How was it doing in the spot previously? Stability looks to be an issue I have to agree with @Copingwithpods. KH is all over the place nitrates are a bit high in my opinion...

 

[Vinnys reef]

I was only doing water changes back in dec and I couldn’t grow chaeto my acans, scoly and clams where not growing and a few other corals just we’re so so then I started with brightwell and aquaforest and everthing started to thrive and grow i still do water changes how can I get my kh to stay at a stable number? the water change in late April was to correct my kh when I used my ato to dose kh that did not work my tanks eats cal like crazy i have no clue why water change just wouldn’t do it I would have to change 5 gal of water every 2 to three days I just can’t do that

 

[Cnelson93]

For my nano I do weekly 10% water changes, and you have to figure your alk consumption and dose based off of that. Figure what your tank consumes over 3 days, take the average and dose that correction amount.

 

[SMSREEF]

I think your 0 phosphate may be the issue.

I disagree with others in that I don’t think water changes alone will lead to better stability. I have a 10 gallon. I do water changes and dose Kalk at night. And when Kalk doesn’t keep up, I need to dose 2 part. But I got Dino’s due to low nutrients and it killed some coral and I no longer need to dose 2 part.

I am feeding the corals more (One every 1-2 days). I also dose nitrate and phosphate as needed to try hard to keep Levels at
10-15 for nitrate
0.05 to 0.1 phosphate.


my hammer looks much better and colors improved when I got my nutrients up.

but there are other things that could be going on too...

 

[Vinnys reef]

I use brightwell neoPhos and I can’t keep any phosphate in my tank I don’t run any gfo I’m just afraid to put to much in I use 5 drops a day my kh has been crazy for a few weeks before my kh was stable at 8.3 8.2 it’s been coming down everyday I just don’t want to change it to fast you seen the pic of the hammer do you think I should move it or just wait a few more weeks I just never seen a hammer do this I don’t think it’s a water issue everything in my tank is good

I think your 0 phosphate may be the issue.

I disagree with others in that I don’t think water changes alone will lead to better stability. I have a 10 gallon. I do water changes and dose Kalk at night. And when Kalk doesn’t keep up, I need to dose 2 part. But I got Dino’s due to low nutrients and it killed some coral and I no longer need to dose 2 part.

I am feeding the corals more (One every 1-2 days). I also dose nitrate and phosphate as needed to try hard to keep Levels at
10-15 for nitrate
0.05 to 0.1 phosphate.


my hammer looks much better and colors improved when I got my nutrients up.

but there are other things that could be going on too...

 

[Vinnys reef]

Could my chaeto be sucking up all my phosphate I get crazy growth and have to take out two hand fulls every 7 to 10 days

 

[SMSREEF]

Could my chaeto be sucking up all my phosphate I get crazy growth and have to take out two hand fulls every 7 to 10 days

I think chaeto could be sucking it up. What if you Decrease the schedule of light in fuge to decrease phosphate uptake.

You are beyond my knowledge of how phosphate dosing affects KH...
I follow @Randy Holmes-Farley advice about not dosing phosphate with my Kalk. I only dose nitrate with Kalk.
I am not sure phosphate would affect your KH if you are not dosing it in the same solution, but I defer to others here.

 

[Vinnys reef]

thanks For everyone’s help you guys are great

I think chaeto could be sucking it up. What if you Decrease the schedule of light in fuge to decrease phosphate uptake.

You are beyond my knowledge of how phosphate dosing affects KH...
I follow @Randy Holmes-Farley advice about not dosing phosphate with my Kalk. I only dose nitrate with Kalk.
I am not sure phosphate would affect your KH if you are not dosing it in the same solution, but I defer to others here.

 

[Hecticdude]

If you are going the no water change route I suggest you read up on it, honestly it's a bit overkill for a 13g. With your size tank and level of demand, minor 2 part dosing and water changes every 2 weeks should be more than enough to keep up with your demand.

I think that water changes with quality salt on a regular schedule would really do the trick on that size tank.
Most salts have trace minerals and cal and alk needed if mixed correctly. JM2C

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Large alk swings and zero phosphate or close to it makes euphylia very angry. Weekly water changes should keep things in line but if you are not able to you should be able to figure out how much alk your tank consumes daily and then dose that. I do all testing in the morning around the same time. My tank needs 9mL of alk to keep my number steady. Took a little trial and error to figure out how much I need to dose to get in tune with the tank. Additionally alk consumption can increase if more coral is added. I also do very small weekly water changes. Generally unless the tank is full of coral weekly water changes should keep alk within a certain range. If you do not do frequent water changes dosing trace elements may also be needed. I saw you posted your macro algae would die which will happen if it does not have nitrate and phosphate to eat or it is lacking trace elements which can be dosed if you do not do frequent water changes