branching hammer

murfman

murfman

New member
I have (what used to be a beautiful) a branching hammer that is not doing too well. I just reasearched it and it seems that because I now have a CLM with dedicated flow, I have too much flow for it? I don't know. It used to be purple with green hammers but now the polyps just barely extend from the skeleton. It used to be partially shaded by a big rock but now I dont really have any shade except up under the 12" glass bracing. That area has a lot of flow from the CLM returns. Any one have experience with this coral?

If it doesn't get better soon, I think I will have to trade it off before I kill it.
 
They don't very much flow at all, just enough so that it gently pushes the tentacles back and forth. I think that should help it.
 
You could be right with the flow thing, I had a wall hammer that did great in my 180 with lower flow, the branching hammer frag that I got from you is doing great though in the 600. I actually have 2 of them right now and the one out under the bright light and more flow is doing better than the one thats tucked in the corner with lower flow and lower light.
So I don't know what to tell you, have you tested all your parameters for the heck of it to see if there is an issue?
 
You may try moving it to someplace with a little less flow. If they feel like they are being "tossed about" by the flow they can decide to stay closed. Light wise they seem to be happy with what ever you provide.

LMK if it stays closed up and you want to find it a new home.
 
That piece you gave me at the meeting at your house has more than doubled in my tank. I wouldn't say the flow is to heavy but it's not very light either.

Hope it comes back for you. If it doesn't you can try a frag off of mine.
 
Temp 78.2*
PH 8.2
Ammnia 0.25 (just added 25# or rock 3 days ago)
Nitrites 0.0
Nitrates 20.0
KH 10/179
SG 1.0215/29.5
 
I'm having the same issue with my frogspawn. I have 2 separate pieces in two different locations of the same colony. for several months now they are doing what yours are doing. I cant figure it out. I have one other type of frogspawn and 2 different torches and they are all doing fine. I have added two nano tunze, but for them (the frogspawn) to be in different locations and the other lps's to be fine is puzzling.
 
1.024 is probably ok, but if you sg was 1.0215 that would be a little low. Heres an article by Randy Holmes Farley on it, look down on the page and you'll find it.
 
Very interesting article. A lot of us worry about using chillers when in fact, 84 is the normal average temp for a reef.....
 
I know Murf, the 84 degree thing scares us! But I think its the flow at 84 degrees in the ocean that helps.
It seems like the more light (and consequently heat) you give a tank the more flow you seem to need. I've had tanks in the past that heated up and some of the corals looked their best and others not so good. It's hard to say what the magical number is for all of them I think it's a different number depending on where the coral came from.
Anyway I think you must have done something, maybe
Different salt?
Different bulb spectrum?
Different additives?
Time to replace your RO membrane of filters?
Temp higher? You said its been 2 months since it opened? The last 2 months have been hotter
Gotta be something
 
*Most lps don't need alot of flow or alot of light if they are feed phyto regularily.
I place my power heads near the surface of my tank so they are churning that area up really good(helps with air exhange near the surface)
Sps love high water circulation and lots of light so I place them up high on the reef in that zone
The lps I place mid to bottom depending on their requirements

* you have to do your research here-- for eg--xenia corals like high flow and lots of light.
 
Murph do you have any softies near it? I was thinking aout this and I remembered I moved my purple tip frogspawn from my 15gal Mantis reef to my main reef tank for the same reason. The only thing I could figure out was it was irritated by my Sinularia in that tank. The hole in that theory is I have a bigger colony of the same coral in my reef tank. But it is a little farther away.

One other possibility was that the frogspawn was getting too much flow from the PH in the tank. Honestly that makes the most sence especially when you take into account that the Euphillias that Scott gets in usually don't open very far in his coral tank.
 
Hammer seems to be doing better now that it is in the center of the tank (under the 12" glass cover) and less flow.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10323424#post10323424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by murfman
Hammer seems to be doing better now that it is in the center of the tank (under the 12" glass cover) and less flow.
Click to expand...

good to hear--keep us posted--we all learn that way :)
 
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