Hammer corals not doing well (Mesenterial Filaments)

[Shirak]

I’m taking note on that one, thank you all for your inputs, I thought i’m doing it right because they look fin prior to last week. Thank you so much

LPS can be like that.. they look good for a month or two or three. Until they can't sustain themselves well and go south 'quickly'.

With hammers and other similar corals look at the flesh around the top outside of the skeleton. Looks like there is still a good amount but it also looks like there is a noticeable band of white skeleton which tells me it has lost a fair amount in a short period of time which is a warning sign.

Your salinity is low. Could go to 1.026sg I use 35ppt which is a touch higher than 1.026sg This is probably why your Ca and Mg are testing low. So rather than dose those, I would bump your salinity up a little which will help the stony corals.

Any particular reason you are running 76f? On the lower end but not necessarily a big deal. Most reefers use 78-79 I think?

 

[dflightx]

LPS can be like that.. they look good for a month or two or three. Until they can't sustain themselves well and go south 'quickly'.

With hammers and other similar corals look at the flesh around the top outside of the skeleton. Looks like there is still a good amount but it also looks like there is a noticeable band of white skeleton which tells me it has lost a fair amount in a short period of time which is a warning sign.

Your salinity is low. Could go to 1.026sg I use 35ppt which is a touch higher than 1.026sg This is probably why your Ca and Mg are testing low. So rather than dose those, I would bump your salinity up a little which will help the stony corals.

Any particular reason you are running 76f? On the lower end but not necessarily a big deal. Most reefers use 78-79 I think?

My salinity dropped when i messed up my mixture for water change i do usually try to keep it around 1.025-1.026.

From what I see mostly for lps corals, temp ranges from 74-76F so I just go 76F.

Hopefully i can still bring back my hammers to there former glory

 

[Shirak]

You can bump up the light but I think long term you should look into a second light. Maybe a led light strip to pair with the AI Prime? Other option would be to sell the prime and get single light with more power and spread.

 

[dflightx]

You can bump up the light but I think long term you should look into a second light. Maybe a led light strip to pair with the AI Prime? Other option would be to sell the prime and get single light with more power and spread.

Do you know if the AI Blade will be good enough to pair with it? I’m thinking of just adding another 12 inch blades, instead of selling my prime.

 

[Shirak]

Do you know if the AI Blade will be good enough to pair with it? I’m thinking of just adding another 12 inch blades, instead of selling my prime.

I have not used them but heard good things. Trick will be figuring out how to mount a light such as the AI Blade with the Prime over your tank. Hence my thought about selling the Prime and replacing with a single light that would suit the tank better.

 

[dflightx]

I have not used them but heard good things. Trick will be figuring out how to mount a light such as the AI Blade with the Prime over your tank. Hence my thought about selling the Prime and replacing with a single light that would suit the tank better.

After some thought and research I’ve decided to go for the hydra 32hd, just arrived today, plus I’ve increased my lights intensity and looking like the hammers are starting to come back tho it doesnt look great just yet and loose colors they’re starting to puff up again. Hope it continues to recover. Gonna do par meter testing(?) as soon as i got the light mounted.

 

[Shirak]

Go easy on the light increase and give them time. Corals adjust faster to lower light than higher light IMO. I would probably do acclimation mode. Get the current par readings with the Prime. Figure out the settings with the Hydra 32 for the par you want to achieve then turn it down so you are at the same par with the H32 as the Prime. Then you can figure out how much to reduce the end goal % intensity and run acclimation mode for 3 or 4 weeks.

 

[dflightx]

Go easy on the light increase and give them time. Corals adjust faster to lower light than higher light IMO. I would probably do acclimation mode. Get the current par readings with the Prime. Figure out the settings with the Hydra 32 for the par you want to achieve then turn it down so you are at the same par with the H32 as the Prime. Then you can figure out how much to reduce the end goal % intensity and run acclimation mode for 3 or 4 weeks.

Yes thats what I intended to thats why I’ll be getting the par meter when I install the light, as of now I cant find a mounting arm for that and gotta wait til next week.

Just a thought, are hydra 32 an over kill for my softies/lps tank?

 

[Shirak]

Yes thats what I intended to thats why I’ll be getting the par meter when I install the light, as of now I cant find a mounting arm for that and gotta wait til next week.

Just a thought, are hydra 32 an over kill for my softies/lps tank?

No I don’t think so. It’s better for the led to not run at their rated full power and having some room to turn them up in the future doesn’t hurt.

Par meter for sure. I would lean toward high end of mounting height to get the best spread. Then dial in with the meter.

 

[dflightx]

No I don’t think so. It’s better for the led to not run at their rated full power and having some room to turn them up in the future doesn’t hurt.

Par meter for sure. I would lean toward high end of mounting height to get the best spread. Then dial in with the meter.

Okay, thank you so much, have been a great help to me :)

 

[Shirak]

Very welcome! Keep us posted and would love to see photos once you get things switched over!