Should I be worried about my hammer?

[avocadoman]

I've had this hammer coral for about two weeks. The left is a day or two after I got it, and the right is today. The polyps just look a lot smaller but not necessarily retracted I guess. Nothing has really changed in terms of dosing or anything.

Parameters: Salinity 1.025, KH 8.3, nitrate 6.0, phosphate 0.09, Ca 412, pH 8, Mg 1250. Maintaining all with soda ash dosing, and occasionally adding some chaeto grow. Switching to All For Reef this weekend.

Edit to add: I'm using 2x Radion XR15 lights, set to 50% and the hammer is about 9" from the surface of the water. PAR around 140-160 around it according to the Seneye.

 

[Uncle99]

I think .9ppm phosphate is just too high, corals not going to like that long term and may darken over time.

My hammers seem to like higher MG so I run at 1400ppm

Unless that’s a typo and you mean 0.09ppm which is just fine.

 

[avocadoman]

I think .9ppm phosphate is just too high, corals not going to like that long term and may darken over time.

Unless that’s a typo and you mean 0.09ppm which is just fine.

Yes, sorry! It is 0.09.

 

[Uncle99]

Yes, sorry! It is 0.09.

Perfect.
How old is your system?
For how long have those numbers remained stable?
It is retracted somewhat, but could be a ton of things, or nothing at all.

 

[avocadoman]

Perfect.
How old is your system?
For how long have those numbers remained stable?

The whole tank is just over 2 months old. The KH and salinity are the same every day since before adding the hammer. The Ca varies through the week, around 425 after water changes and down to 410 or so by the next one (one of the reasons I'm switching to AFR). Phosphate varies a little more, between 0.03 and 0.1, nitrates vary between 5 and 10. According to my Seneye, the pH swings between 8.15 (late afternoon) and 8.05 (early AM).

 

[kevgib67]

Your parameters look good but I agree with @Uncle99 , I try to keep my magnesium around 1400 also.

 

[Uncle99]

The whole tank is just over 2 months old. The KH and salinity are the same every day since before adding the hammer. The Ca varies through the week, around 425 after water changes and down to 410 or so by the next one (one of the reasons I'm switching to AFR). Phosphate varies a little more, between 0.03 and 0.1, nitrates vary between 5 and 10. According to my Seneye, the pH swings between 8.15 (late afternoon) and 8.05 (early AM).

In younger systems, chemistry is a greater challenge.
The difference pics appears very minor, give it a few weeks to fully adjust.

In the second pic, I think I see some red, maybe cyano and some bubbles. Maybe just the pics on my end, but if so, that might point to some fluxes in the water chemistry.

 

[avocadoman]

Thanks for the responses. It seems to be doing fine, I guess? Really no changes the last few days.

As for the algae, there's some green hair algae on that area of rock that my hermits are going after right now. Some diatoms on the sand that seem to be lessening over time. The redness is just the colored Life Rock. I've attached a picture under white light from a couple of days ago.

Also, just after feeding the fish this morning I noticed it retracting some polyps, and over the next ten minutes or so they went back to how they were. Is this a feeding response, or a stress thing, or what? I attached a video.