HELP! Hammer Coral Not Opening

[mta_morrow]

My guess is nitrates...my hammer gets like that when my nitrates are high...water changes are paramount

What do you consider high nitrates? Mine ar always 12-16 and everything is happy.

 

[reef r madness]

In the 20- 50 range...

 

[Jaws0508]

Post your results and tag me and I will try to help you.

@mta_morrow
NO3: 25-50( Cant tell exactly)
Po4: 0
Ph: 8.0
Calc: 430
Mag: 1440
Alk:9.9
To me it looks like the problem is nitrates, but I don't know what would be causing them. Its been probably a month since i replaced my media, except for filter floss which I changed today. Any ideas what would cause the high nitrates? I only have one clown and hand feed him so i'm guessing its not the food

 

[reef r madness]

Do you have it in direct flow...I had mine in direct flow and it wasn't too happy...they like indirect flow

 

[Jaws0508]

Do you have it in direct flow...I had mine in direct flow and it wasn't too happy...they like indirect flow

I had indirect flow, then I added a power head so maybe that isn’t helping it

 

[reef r madness]

I had indirect flow, then I added a power head so maybe that isn’t helping it

I have my mp 10 blowing through the brickwork set at about 40 percent on the opposite side of the tank

 

[reef r madness]

You can see it below the zoas on left side of pic..what's your temperature..

 

[Jaws0508]

I think my temp is 82-84 range. Is that to high?

 

[reef r madness]

It took about a week to ten days and a fifty percent water change for mine to fully expand when I added it

 

[reef r madness]

I've got mine set at 80

 

[Jaws0508]

Oh, that might be it. I got it on Thursday so I’ll just wait and hopefully he will open up

 

[reef r madness]

Ya mine really started doing good after I did a huge water change..which I'm due for another huge one..my nitrates are at 20 to 50

 

[reef r madness]

I run purigen and chemipure elite and floss in my media basket..I change the floss about every ten days..haven't changed the other media..my tanks almost 6 months old..been battling Cyano off and on...my coraline is starting to grow..

 

[reef r madness]

There are a lot of experts on here..I'm not one of them...lol..but everyone has really been helpful every time I've asked for advice..

 

[Jaws0508]

Thanks for all the help, I did a 33% water change today but next time I should do a 50%. Hopefully he will open up eventually

 

[reef r madness]

The only reason I say 50 is because it will cut your nitrates in half right off the bat..then you can go less weekly like 5 or 10 depending on your bioload

 

[vetteguy53081]

Low salinity WILL upset it. On introduction, at least 45 mins acclimation, low to moderate light (low on whites) and high on blue AND moderate flow

 

[Jaws0508]

Yeah I think I got my salinity up to 1.025ish today so hopefully that helps as well. Could my old media be producing nitrates?

 

[mta_morrow]

@mta_morrow
NO3: 25-50( Cant tell exactly)
Po4: 0
Ph: 8.0
Calc: 430
Mag: 1440
Alk:9.9
To me it looks like the problem is nitrates, but I don't know what would be causing them. Its been probably a month since i replaced my media, except for filter floss which I changed today. Any ideas what would cause the high nitrates? I only have one clown and hand feed him so i'm guessing its not the food

A couple things. What all do you have for corals? Can I have a FTS? How many gallons is your tank and how often do you do water changes and how many gallons?

 

[Jaws0508]

A couple things. What all do you have for corals? Can I have a FTS? How many gallons is your tank and how often do you do water changes and how many gallons?

@mta_morrow
I have a small gsp colony, leather coral, 4-5 mushrooms around, anemone(not a coral but wanted to mention), and a hammer coral. Sorry I don’t know what FTS stands for. I normally change 5 gallons a week in the 29 gallon tank, but today I did 10.