Bleaching hammer?

[tjbrownie]

Just a little nervous my hammer is bleaching and hoping someone can take a look and find something I can’t

 

[Bucs20fan]

So hammers dont really "Bleach" their polyps just recede and melt away or bail out. Your picture is really fuzzy and a picture under white lights will help alot.

 

[tjbrownie]

Alright I’ll send a better picture when I’m home or see if I have one somewhere on my phone

 

[tjbrownie]

Here’s a better one but still needa grab a white light one when I’m home

 

[Bucs20fan]

How long have you had this hammer? What are your water parameters?

 

[tjbrownie]

How long have you had this hammer? What are your water parameters?

I’ve had it for about two or three weeks
Nitrate~0-1
Phos- was .03 last time I checked
PH 7.9

 

[Bucs20fan]

Well those arent bad numbers, id get some more nitrates in there if i were you, they dont mind dirtier water.

 

[Lavey29]

There's some stringy stuff coming off it on the left side. This may be causing irritation. Did you dip it for pests?

 

[lucyretz]

alk, mag, cal?

 

[Uncle99]

How old is that system?

 

[tjbrownie]

There's some stringy stuff coming off it on the left side. This may be causing irritation. Did you dip it for pests?

It’s hair algae. Yes I dipped

 

[tjbrownie]

How old is that system?

4ish months

 

[tjbrownie]

Well those arent bad numbers, id get some more nitrates in there if i were you, they dont mind dirtier water.

This is it right now. My urchins spines poked its skeleton 2 days ago and u can see the irritation

 

[tjbrownie]

Al

alk, mag, cal?

l in good range as of a few days ago, haven’t tested again yet

 

[vetteguy53081]

I see recession and possible bacteria. Frag may be too close to power head. Hammers require Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.

 

[tjbrownie]

I see recession and possible bacteria. Frag may be too close to power head. Hammers require Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.

I am fighting cyano in my tank rn so that could be the bacteria. Thanks for the advice!

 

[tjbrownie]

I see recession and possible bacteria. Frag may be too close to power head. Hammers require Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.

Here’s a better photo to analyze

 

[Uncle99]

4ish months

Nitrate is low at 0-1ppm, phosphate is low at 0.03ppm, for LPS.
Since the numbers are low, Nitrate and or Phosphate could actually be zero and just test to 1.

The waters are still young and fighting Cyano is a sign of unstable waters.

Ensure salinity and alk stay pinned with no flux regardless of time tested. Bump up nitrates to 5ppm and phosphate to 0.1ppm, and keep these pinned as well.

You’ll need to have say 60 more days or so in this chemistry and you’ll see the change.