flow on a hammer coral

[shutterfish]

This goes for my whole tank i guess- how do i know what needs good flow on it?

I have a 28 gallon tank. A koralia 1 and 2 for powerheads. The guy who owned this tank before me had one crappy little powerhead. Now I have 2- a koralia 1 across the back of my tank that hits my hammer coral, and a 2 that is near the middle back of the tank 2/3 of the way up that hits the front of my tank and pours the flow in all directions from there.

Anyway, how much flo does my hammer coral need/like? I can hit it dead on so it is always waving... I have it getting hit just across the top right now so it is in constant motion but it isn't being bullied by the force of the water...

how do i know what things like flow and what dont... and specifically for this critter, how much flow to the like? Constantly being hit or nice flow but not to much?
THANKS!

Andrew

[Vj]

Corals like Hammers and Frogspawn like a pretty gentle flow, if there gently swaying thats perfect, if they have tons of sweeper tentacles then they more than likely are getting to much flow.

As far as other corals go its best to look em up, see what people recomend, but for most corals a gentle breeze is good, when you get into sps, some gorgonians etc then you need to worry about strong currents IME

[Seamore]

Sounds about right the way you have it, not direct constant flow pounding it or any coral. You can search the web for the specific coral or go to sites like liveaquaria.com or saltwaterfish.com for short blurbs about theorized requirements of livestock. Asking here is good because you will get answers from others who have the coral, and nothing beats that.

[quader94]

IME hammers are pain flow wise. ive had one for almost a year and hasnt grown at all. ive moved it all over the tank. i moved it to a new spot and in less then a week it split and is growing faster then it ever has

[Vj]

What was the difference between the old spot and the new?

[quader94]

Originally Posted by Vj

What was the difference between the old spot and the new?

the flow , its always had light flow but now it has a nice randomgentle sway to it and so far seems to love it

[Frank-n-Tank]

yep like a sway in the breeze said the giant oak

[Phishnoob]

Hrmm I have more than gentle with the hammer right on top with a couple of Tunze nanos and the return on it in a 75g. I would call that a full medium flow. It seems really happy.

[Seamore]

Mine likes the gentle sway, MP10 on the far side ot the frag tank about 2.5 feet away.

[chrisd]

yep my hammer likes a moderate flow just enough to make them wiggle but not beat them up.

[fihsboy]

+1 Mine does the same. Lots of light, gentle random flow along with decent levels.........you will have growth in no time. I just realized that mine has over 14 new heads sprouting out.

[Jnicho]

I think moderate would be my call...really the biggest concern with hammers (or really and kind of Euphyllia) is the risk of tearing the "flesh" away from the skeleton if the flow is too harsh.

[wharyat]

Yep moderate/low random flow.

They tend to stay inflated better under random flow instead of a constant directional flow. They also look cooler under random.

[cutietwo]

Originally Posted by fihsboy

+1 Mine does the same. Lots of light, gentle random flow along with decent levels.........you will have growth in no time. I just realized that mine has over 14 new heads sprouting out.

I have a 2 headed hammer that i've had for several months now and it also has had about 6-7 new very tiny heads on it. they haven't seem to grown much, how long do yours take to go from sprouting to being a full head?

[cutietwo]

yes my hammers like gentle swaying and lots of light. i have them near the top (however I do have PC's so that's probably why). Yours sounds perfect