Hammer corals

[weemanno1]

hi guys I’ve recently bought a hammer coral and placed it in what I deem to be the right flow lights are at 140 par max there just wanted to check people’s thoughts.. it’s healthy not all the way extended in 1 section . And has little flesh band preseason of about 5mm over the last 5 days since it’s been in. I’ve attached a video and a pic for reference hopefully it can help :)

Video of movement https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hxaf...ey=escjxv3xbo1vl5jgj6r5itmz4&st=g9tbf9va&dl=0

 

[BristleWormHater]

@VintageReefer

 

[BonnieB]

hi guys I’ve recently bought a hammer coral and placed it in what I deem to be the right flow lights are at 140 par max there just wanted to check people’s thoughts.. it’s healthy not all the way extended in 1 section . And has little flesh band preseason of about 5mm over the last 5 days since it’s been in. I’ve attached a video and a pic for reference hopefully it can help :)

Video of movement https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hxaf...ey=escjxv3xbo1vl5jgj6r5itmz4&st=g9tbf9va&dl=0

Looks healthy to me. I love the marbling! IME hammers take a while to acclimate and adjust to their new environments. Mine like medium indirect flow and medium light. I just transferred them a few weeks ago to my upgraded tank and one is still sulking a bit (compared to the old tank) but like yours is open, flowing and healthy. I’d just keep an eye on it and give it time to settle in. If the polyps retract for any length of time, then I’d be concerned.

 

[vetteguy53081]

hi guys I’ve recently bought a hammer coral and placed it in what I deem to be the right flow lights are at 140 par max there just wanted to check people’s thoughts.. it’s healthy not all the way extended in 1 section . And has little flesh band preseason of about 5mm over the last 5 days since it’s been in. I’ve attached a video and a pic for reference hopefully it can help :)

Video of movement https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hxaf...ey=escjxv3xbo1vl5jgj6r5itmz4&st=g9tbf9va&dl=0

This is standard look but also assure not too much flow as polyps should be gently waving in the current and not bent over. These do well in the 80-100 PAR range and also assure calcium is Not below 400

 

[weemanno1]

Looks healthy to me. I love the marbling! IME hammers take a while to acclimate and adjust to their new environments. Mine like medium indirect flow and medium light. I just transferred them a few weeks ago to my upgraded tank and one is still sulking a bit (compared to the old tank) but like yours is open, flowing and healthy. I’d just keep an eye on it and give it time to settle in. If the polyps retract for any length of time, then I’d be concerned.

thank you so much :) you can see the slightly less polyp extensions in 1 section but i need to get a video of it in the middle of the day rather than while the lights are ramping up in a morning or when i get home and the lights are starting to ramp down. its only been in the tank 5days (this is the 6th) it opens and closes every morning and night. :) i'll leave it where it is now as it doesn't seem angry. , calcium is slightly low as ive put lps in over the last month and not realised its using a little calcium so calcium is @385 (salifert) right now but i'll correct it back to 420-440 over the next 4 days. for reference my Duncan has been in a month and already growing a new polyp head and heads all doubled in size :) (sorry for the ramble)

 

[weemanno1]

This is standard look but also assure not too much flow as polyps should be gently waving in the current and not bent over. These do well in the 80-100 PAR range and also assure calcium is Not below 400

nothing seems bent over in the video . out of interest is it normal for polyps to be of differant sizes?.. if the par is to high i can move it to the other side towards the back would be 60-80 par but semi hidden from sight :) my set up is scapes are in the middle and a 3" clear sand bed all the way round :) i could move it further still to the right towards the corner of the tank the light will be closer to 100 there as i only have 1 tmc lps 6 light centralised to the tank :)

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

It looks fine to me, 5 days is a short time for a coral to acclimate, and IMO too short a time to be moving it around. My hammer is in high lighting and grows very well. Personally I would leave it alone for a few weeks and see how it goes.

 

[BonnieB]

Looks healthy to me. I love the marbling! IME hammers take a while to acclimate and adjust to their new environments. Mine like medium indirect flow and medium light. I just transferred them a few weeks ago to my upgraded tank and one is still sulking a bit (compared to the old tank) but like yours is open, flowing and healthy. I’d just keep an eye on it and give it time to settle in. If the polyps retract for any length of time, then I’d be concerned.

thank you so much :) you can see the slightly less polyp extensions in 1 section but i need to get a video of it in the middle of the day rather than while the lights are ramping up in a morning or when i get home and the lights are starting to ramp down. its only been in the tank 5days (this is the 6th) it opens and closes every morning and night. :) i'll leave it where it is now as it doesn't seem angry. , calcium is slightly low as ive put lps in over the last month and not realised its using a little calcium so calcium is @385 (salifert) right now but i'll correct it back to 420-440 over the next 4 days. for reference my Duncan has been in a month and already growing a new polyp head and heads all doubled in size :) (sorry for the ramble)

You’re not rambling. 5 days it’s still acclimating. You’re already listening to the advice of @VintageReefer so you’re on the right path. Be patient and it will flourish!

 

[vetteguy53081]

nothing seems bent over in the video . out of interest is it normal for polyps to be of differant sizes?.. if the par is to high i can move it to the other side towards the back would be 60-80 par but semi hidden from sight :) my set up is scapes are in the middle and a 3" clear sand bed all the way round :) i could move it further still to the right towards the corner of the tank the light will be closer to 100 there as i only have 1 tmc lps 6 light centralised to the tank :)

If you move it up, there is generally stronger current ,,,, but an area with moderate light and flow is best. These corals do well at lower half of tank whereas torch coral ( a member of euphyllia) does best at upper part of tank

 

[BubbleAlgaeFarmer]

Interested to know what folks think is the key to long term health of hammers. My hammers seem to do fine but then suddenly around 6 months old, some seem to wither away. Oddly, i have stylophora and montipora in the same system that keep trucking, this surprises me as ppl seem to say LPS are more forgiving than SPS.

 

[X-37B]

I have a piece of this hammer that's in my 35 on the bottom corner of my 150. Par is 150ish.
The main one in my 35 gets 300 par.
Looks like mine is similar with missing pigment on the hammers.

 

[weemanno1]

I have a piece of this hammer that's in my 35 on the bottom corner of my 150. Par is 150ish.
The main one in my 35 gets 300 par.
Looks like mine is similar with missing pigment on the hammers.

the colour looks grea ton it to be fair its just the flesh band and tentacle size and extension differances but its only 6 days old in the tank so we will see :) i dont even have coraline algae in there yet so we will see how it get son :)

 

[BryanM]

Looks great to me!

 

[X-37B]

Interested to know what folks think is the key to long term health of hammers. My hammers seem to do fine but then suddenly around 6 months old, some seem to wither away. Oddly, i have stylophora and montipora in the same system that keep trucking, this surprises me as ppl seem to say LPS are more forgiving than SPS.

For any coral it's stability that keeps it happy.
Plenty of light and decent flow is about all there is to it.
My big hammers is over 2 years old and this is its 3rd system.

 

[X-37B]

the colour looks grea ton it to be fair its just the flesh band and tentacle size and extension differances but its only 6 days old in the tank so we will see :) i dont even have coraline algae in there yet so we will see how it get son :)

Just be patient and try to not disturb it for awhile and it should do fine.

 

[BubbleAlgaeFarmer]

For any coral it's stability that keeps it happy.
Plenty of light and decent flow is about all there is to it.
My big hammers is over 2 years old and this is its 3rd system.

I've been working on my stability. I have parameters steady via dosing and i've been working on fine tuning my nutrients via my refugium. I'm pretty much there, but i suspect some little tweaks here and there to get things into optimal levels.

 

[X-37B]

I've been working on my stability. I have parameters steady via dosing and i've been working on fine tuning my nutrients via my refugium. I'm pretty much there, but i suspect some little tweaks here and there to get things into optimal levels.

Sounds good. Start a build thread so we can folllow.

 

[weemanno1]

Just be patient and try to not disturb it for awhile and it should do fine.

I’ve just reduced the light slightly to 120 par (guess) and just left it I need to bump my calcium up as I’m loosing about 10ppm of calcium a day currently

 

[weemanno1]

Update on the hammer! It’s tentacles are all nearly equal now and puffing up nice the flesh band has marginally moved from last Friday it’s about 8mm now at the front and maybe 2mm at the back as if it’s aimed its head more vertically. My calcium was 365 and I’ve slowly raised over since friday to 400 and continuing to 420-430 by the weekend. Alk is 9.6 all other parameters are sound nitrate fluctuates between 5-10 and phosphate between 0.05 and 0.06. . I’ll still not touched it or loved it just reduced my lighting by 10% to make sure it’s @ a max of 120 par but likely closer to 110

 

[X-37B]

Update on the hammer! It’s tentacles are all nearly equal now and puffing up nice the flesh band has marginally moved from last Friday it’s about 8mm now at the front and maybe 2mm at the back as if it’s aimed its head more vertically. My calcium was 365 and I’ve slowly raised over since friday to 400 and continuing to 420-430 by the weekend. Alk is 9.6 all other parameters are sound nitrate fluctuates between 5-10 and phosphate between 0.05 and 0.06. . I’ll still not touched it or loved it just reduced my lighting by 10% to make sure it’s @ a max of 120 par but likely closer to 110

Looking good!