Hammer Coral OK?

[Kgramma]

I recently got a hammer coral frag from my LFS. Kind of an impulse buy. I do not have experience with LPS corals. I was just curious if it looks healthy? I use instant ocean and keep my salinity at 1.025. Change 10% weekly. Tank is roughly 2 months old.

 

[shcrimps]

looks pretty good to me so far, i would have it in slightly lower flow so it opens up more
but for such a new tank not sure how it will hold up in such a clean environment especially with weekly water change, i personally would at the very least go to bi-weekly water changes
what’s your livestock list looking like?

 

[Kgramma]

I did a Fishless cycle with dr Tim’s bacteria and dosed ammonia, waited about 4 weeks before introducing fish. I had dry rock and live sand. Started with a clown fish, 2 weeks later got a firefish and just put in a blood red shrimp. Seems like the right amount for a 32 gallon. I’ve consistently been checking for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Never had a spike in ammonia, nitrite has stayed 0, and nitrate I keep at 10ppm or less. Is it better to go longer between water changes? I just found it easier to carry 2.5 gallons weekly.

 

[shcrimps]

I did a Fishless cycle with dr Tim’s bacteria and dosed ammonia, waited about 4 weeks before introducing fish. I had dry rock and live sand. Started with a clown fish, 2 weeks later got a firefish and just put in a blood red shrimp. Seems like the right amount for a 32 gallon. I’ve consistently been checking for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Never had a spike in ammonia, nitrite has stayed 0, and nitrate I keep at 10ppm or less. Is it better to go longer between water changes? I just found it easier to carry 2.5 gallons weekly.

i mean if everything is staying in check you might be ok, the hammer looks good currently not super receded, if you’re able to get your hands on some relatively clean “live” rubble rock from an already established tank i would do that
when i setup tanks like that (which im doing next week) i use dry rock for my main scape so i can get the look and seed the tank with live rock either in the back chamber or a couple pieces in the display

 

[os11eee]

i mean if everything is staying in check you might be ok, the hammer looks good currently not super receded, if you’re able to get your hands on some relatively clean “live” rubble rock from an already established tank i would do that
when i setup tanks like that (which im doing next week) i use dry rock for my main scape so i can get the look and seed the tank with live rock either in the back chamber or a couple pieces in the display

Only thing about using live rock from other systems is the hitchhikers .. from personal experience i dont think its worth it

Your tank will cycle .. i just would wait a while before adding more corals or fish

 

[shcrimps]

Only thing about using live rock from other systems is the hitchhikers .. from personal experience i dont think its worth it

Your tank will cycle .. i just would wait a while before adding more corals or fish

some people like having more sterile systems
i see it as whatever you try to avoid you will inevitably end up with it
just like how there is a solution to any hitchhiker within something to eradicate it
there’s also stronger hitch hikers maybe of the same kind just “built different” if that makes sense that can withstand dips and so on