Hammer Coral Help

[Fish Rookie]

same thing happened to mine too I think something tried to eat it

[Mizer67]

Do you run any other light than the MH. 6 Hours per day may not be enough. Most folks I know run 10-12. Maybe it is letting go hoping to drift somewhere with longer days????

[thincat]

I would like to know the reason your were dosing Ca. Your Kh is really low and between those being low and the possible light issue. These may be the cause.
Do daily water changes, 10% until you get the Ca down to ~400, then dose kalk 1/2 to a gallon of water added to your ATO if you have one or drip very slowly to top off your evaperated water. This should bring your Kh up and also raise your PH to ~8.0-8.3.
Kh should be around 8.

[TahoeMtn]

Unless you have a tank full of corals mostly SPS, most people do not need to add calcium. Just regular water changes will keep most items at the proper levels.

There is a saying "Don't add anything unless you can test for it"

I suppose we should add. Test for it and understand what to do when you test it. If you have been testing your Ca and it was high, why did you add more?

[nice427]

Ok this is a question i was always told that reef aquariums should have have a calcuim level of 400 to 500.. is this not correct? and after reading this i desided to test my tank my calcuim is at 460 and my salinity is at 1.028.. everything is doing fine.. my hammer looks great..

[thincat]

If all was done in "baby steps" your tank would be fine. IMO I would bring your SG down to 1.026. 1.028 would be fine for Red Sea animals... ;D

[biuber]

did anything work for you. my hammer coral is doing the same thing. i checked everything. and all levels anr normal. i dont understand whats wrong

[ericgreg]

Originally Posted by biuber

did anything work for you. my hammer coral is doing the same thing. i checked everything. and all levels anr normal. i dont understand whats wrong

No, I finally lost the hammer. I have since started all over. I emptied my tank, got fresh sand, new water, more flow from different directions. Bought all of the test kits: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, and hardness. I am keeping my sg at 1.026. Right now I mostly have zoas and mushrooms. It will be a long time before I add any lps'. I want to have some stability, and use the lessons I learned before adding anything more.

I'm not suggesting to go to the extreme I went to, rather follow the advice of these guys on here, and try a little bit at a time. I would suggest the small water changes daily would be a start. Good luck!