Hammer problems!

A

Akaash

New member
I bought a hammer from a friend at work. (I work at a LFS.) It looked fine before/after I put it in my tank (about a week ago). It just started slowly closing up, each day it would open less and less. Now it doesn't open at all. I've asked people at work for opinions/suggestions, no one knows. So here goes nothing.

Params:
3 Gallon pico
31 watts of PC lighting
Temp: 78-81
Calc: 400
Salinity: 1.023
PH: 8.4
NiTRITE: 5
NiTRATE: 0
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0
KH: 125

Tank has been set up for a total of ~3 weeks. (I know so short, but as you can see from the parameters is really IS cycled.) BUT it was completely cycled after 3 days. It IS only a 3 gallon, I have about 3.5lbs of LR in it. 80 GPH flow. 2 PC 'hang on lights' 1 is an 18w 50/50 PC, and the other is a 13w 10k

CuC:
2 Nassarius Snails
2 Blue Leg Hermits (Getting 3 more tomorrow)
2 Astria Snails

I have a fire and ice polyp that is doing fine, a red and a blue mushroom that are doing fine. Xenia is looking crappy lately, too but I kind of expect that. But my main concern is the hammer.

I DO know what I'm doing tank/water wise. I'm new to reef. As I said my params are ideal. I dose Kent A/B, and I target feed the hammer with Brightwell Aquatics Zoo-M

Just so I don't 'warp' the thread with this incredibly large image just going to link it instead of embedding it. Yes there IS a brown discharge coming from the nearest head. I'm assuming that's waste discharge? 3 of the 4 branches did it today.

About as far as it opened (a few days after placement):
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/Akaash1/Pico/hammerslightlymoreopen.jpg

I assumed that it was only opening that much becuase I know they can be finicky in a new tank. So I wasn't worried.

Today:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/Akaash1/Pico/hammer.jpg

It's looked that way for about 3 days now. I don't know what to do, or even what is wrong. Going to start dosing Vitamin C tomorrow, see if that helps. Any suggestions?
 
it never really looked that open to begin with. i dont thin kits completely cycled, seeing how u still have NITRITES. a fully cycled tank should have 0 ammonia, and 0 nitrites. the end product after a cycle, should be NITRATES, which are acceptable to a certain point. i dont think nitrites are any good for coral. Also, perhaps raising your S.G to 1.025. that is what the norm is around here i believe (idk tho).


Lastly, that is a sh*t-load of light on that small pico. perhaps your hammer doesnt like the lighting. try reducing the lighting and see what happens.

the only other idea i have, is you say 78-81 degrees for your temp. is that a fluctuating 78-81, or is that over the course of a year? If it fluctuates like that daily, that might in fact be your problem. All i know is, that is a 4 degree fluctuation. enough to cause corals to be unhappy.
 
I agree with the obove that the nitrites should be 0. Having that much nitrates would be fine but the nitrites are deadly at those readings. Also how much water flow is directly on the hammer. It looked still. They like a bit of current to blow them around a bit. Maybe try moving him to a little higher current when it feels better, don't want to blow em apart now though.
 
As to the current issue...the entire tank is moderate to strong flow...80GPH in a 3 gallon tents to keep things moving!
 
For that size tank, it might be too much light for it, especially if it was use to lower light. Like fish, corals often get drip acclimated, but unlike fish they also need acclimated to the light conditions. I also agree with the above that the salinity needs raised. Although not horrible, 1.025 to 1.026 is often better for corals.
 
the light issue was mentioned before. I know the guy I bought it off of didn't have "10w per gallon"
 
I can't really see that 31 watts is going to be overkill, the hammer doesn't know it's in a 3 gallon tank. I have 150 watt 10k halide right over my hammer and it extends just fine. I would say too much flow and possible unstable parameters, your salinity is a little low, 1.025 would probably be better. 3 gallons is hard to keep stable. I'd try lowering flow and light just to be safe and give it a couple days, bring it back if it doesn't help and try later.
 
Hammer? are you sure

Hammer? are you sure

That doesn't even look like a hammer euphyllia, more like a torch.
 
ditto torch.
While the light may not be compareable to a mh over a larger tank, the shallowness of the tank must be taken into consideration.
 
sounds like too much flow. . . hammers/torch really don't like a ton of direct flow at them. Usually will cause them not to open up all the way.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12501378#post12501378 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sprinj76
sounds like too much flow. . . hammers/torch really don't like a ton of direct flow at them. Usually will cause them not to open up all the way.
Click to expand...

I agree that hammers don't like a lot of direct flow at them--my first thoughts too were that the coral in the pictures is torch coral
 
None of the tips in your picture look hammer-like. It looks like a torch to me as well, not that it matters - it's a euphyllia.

I have a purple-tipped branching hammer and I have problems at different times with it getting too much light and too much flow. I agree with the others that one or both of these are the likely problem.
 
My tank was up and running for months before I added any LPS. I doubt you are done with your cycle. You could try less flow but rushing in reef is usually a recipe for disaster. Just my own 2 cents...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12485459#post12485459 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Akaash
I just redid the trite and trate tests both are 0

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/Akaash1/Pico/test.jpg

Maybe I let it sit too long before I tested earlier. It's only 1 min not 5 =X

Or is that 5.0!? AHH! I hate these tests
Click to expand...

So my trates and trites are both zero. and have been. I either misread the test, or I let it sit too long before checking it
 
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