Hammers incredibly picky about lighting?!

[Stuckita]

I got my first couple hammers and I’m blown away at how picky these coral are about lighting. At the LFS they were running 130-150 - looked like mostly blues.

I’m running 180ish, with blue/light blue at 60% , violet and green at 45%, white at 30%, red at 15%. They absolutely hated it.

I had to tone the white down to 5% and violet and green to 10% and red to 5% just to get them to open. Now I’m slowly ramping light up as my other coral are now unhappy… I’m at 60% blue/light blue, 8% white, 15% green, 10% violet, and 5% red.. attempted to raise violet up to 20% and BAM instant closure.

Today I’m ramping everything up again and going to the office so I can’t watch the coral complain… is this normal?!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I don't think its just the light, its a combo of light, flow, and water parameters. The more different your tank is compared to the tank it came from, the longer it will take to acclimate.

The best you can do is read about its requirements, then place it in a spot that meets those requirements, and wait. It could take minutes, or hours to acclimate, or even days, weeks, or months in some cases.

If you are changing the intensity of your lights, then I suppose you have no other corals or photosythetic animals in your tank. But later on when your tank is full, you won't be able to adjust the lights, or else you disrupt everything in your tank.

 

[Stuckita]

Yeah, makes sense. I’m double checking my parameters at the LFS today. I do have some zoas/Duncan/monti that enjoy more light so by Saturday I’m hoping to be at the old intensity. Hammers are just so dramatic when they’re not happy that they’re stealing my attention.

 

[Bruttall]

I don't think its just the light, its a combo of light, flow, and water parameters. The more different your tank is compared to the tank it came from, the longer it will take to acclimate.

The best you can do is read about its requirements, then place it in a spot that meets those requirements, and wait. It could take minutes, or hours to acclimate, or even days, weeks, or months in some cases.

If you are changing the intensity of your lights, then I suppose you have no other corals or photosythetic animals in your tank. But later on when your tank is full, you won't be able to adjust the lights, or else you disrupt everything in your tank.

I have to disagree on this lighting. In my experience you can always adjust your lights down and ramp them back up again without hurting or stressing your corals at all. There are times in Nature when storms roll thru and clouds cover the sky blocking sunlight. Days at a time on occasion I am sure. I have toned my lights down overall by 50% and ramped them back up after adding new coral a few times and I do not have a small system with a few corals, I have an 8ft 300g tank.

 

[mtraylor]

I think hammer corals are one of the most versatile corals for lighting within reason. You can almost put them anywhere and they will adjust accordingly. Really hardy coral.

 

[Stuckita]

I think hammer corals are one of the most versatile corals for lighting within reason. You can almost put them anywhere and they will adjust accordingly. Really hardy coral.

So just let them complain for a little while?

 

[jkcoral]

How long have you had the hammers? Is it possible they are still adjusting to your tank?

In my experience, I’ve always worried more about flow when introducing hammers. I usually place them in a lower light area with the right flow and either slowly move them into higher light over a few weeks, or if the spot is good flow but high light, I’ll run a 30 day light acclimation starting at 50% intensity and moving up to the regular intensity.

Also, make sure you have some nutrients in the water.

 

[Stuckita]

How long have you had the hammers? Is it possible they are still adjusting to your tank?

In my experience, I’ve always worried more about flow when introducing hammers. I usually place them in a lower light area with the right flow and either slowly move them into higher light over a few weeks, or if the spot is good flow but high light, I’ll run a 30 day light acclimation starting at 50% intensity and moving up to the regular intensity.

Also, make sure you have some nutrients in the water.

Only 6 days. They opened immediately during my first evening and morning cycle but once they experienced full light they started to be stressed. With a reduced lighting schedule it seems better.. double checking everything today at the LFS as there could be a water issue. My Duncan acted up at a similar time, but has since rebounded.

 

[Waters]

I think the issue is more the coral acclimating in the changes (whether it be lighting, flow, nutrients, etc.) They aren't closing because they don't like the new levels of Violet light....they are closing because they don't like the change from one spectrum to the next. Changes need to be made slowly once they are acclimated to one environment.

 

[Stuckita]

I checked in with the shop and phosphates were 0.02 so low/realm of error. I picked up a Hanna test kit. Looks like water parameters are good!