Hammer Coral Not Opening

[chrisd73]

Dealing with an issue with my hammer, It seems to not open at all. Believe the issue has been high phosphates and then followed by low nitrates. Curious now if it will improve once I get the nitrates back up.

Phosphates were .9, so I added Phos -E to slowly bring them down. Also added the mini BRS reactor with carbon and GFO. That has lowered phosphates to .11 right now and still going down. Can't seem to get nitrates detectable yet. Been adding NeoNitro daily but so far nothing.

Have 2 Clowns, a Royal Gramma and 2 Yellow Tail Damsels. Candy Cane and GSP are doing well, but not growing.

Calcium is 440
Alk 8.6
Mag 1425
Salinity 34


Am I missing anything else or just have to wait it out?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

As long as flow and lighting are good, and there are no fish/predator nipping/eating it most likely is the nutrient imbalance.

One quick question though; do you have other corals, and are they doing good? There may be some pollutant or chemical in your tank, and if that's the case, other corals would be closed too.

 

[chrisd73]

Dealing with an issue with my hammer, It seems to not open at all. Believe the issue has been high phosphates and then followed by low nitrates. Curious now if it will improve once I get the nitrates back up.

Phosphates were .9, so I added Phos -E to slowly bring them down. Also added the mini BRS reactor with carbon and GFO. That has lowered phosphates to .11 right now and still going down. Can't seem to get nitrates detectable yet. Been adding NeoNitro daily but so far nothing.

Have 2 Clowns, a Royal Gramma and 2 Yellow Tail Damsels. Candy Cane and GSP are doing well, but not growing.

Calcium is 440
Alk 8.6
Mag 1425
Salinity 34


Am I missing anything else or just have to wait it out?

As long as flow and lighting are good, and there are no fish/predator nipping/eating it most likely is the nutrient imbalance.

One quick question though; do you have other corals, and are they doing good? There may be some pollutant or chemical in your tank, and if that's the case, other corals would be closed too.

The others are doing fine. GSP is opening, but not spreading out like I would have thought. Candy Cane is opening and looking good. I have not seen any of the fish nipping at the hammer.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

The others are doing fine. GSP is opening, but not spreading out like I would have thought. Candy Cane is opening and looking good. I have not seen any of the fish nipping at the hammer.

So I'd say it's most likely the nutrient imbalance, as long as there are no EEFW.

I bottomed out on nutrients a little while back, and just got them back up last week. My hammer is finally starting to look a bit better. It'll take time, just be patient and work on keeping your nutrients in check.