fishiefish Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 okay so I have a hammer coral thats not doing well...I'm moveing it around trying to find a area that it likes...its not extending its feelers any more and is looking rough(scary) I'm trying to give it a couple days in each spot to see if it likes it but nothing is working. I have a 90 gallon tank 2 250 watt mh , great water except that this morning my ph level was alittle low..trying to fix this but seems to be low every two days or so...what causes this?could this be whats upseting my hammer? no fish or snail or hermit seems to be messing with it I have some algae but its not much anymore and was never around the hammer...help please thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 What is your pH in the morning? How about at the end of the day when the lights go out? What about your other levels, alk calcium nitrates SG? At night you do not have any light, so the corals and algae are not photosynthisizing. This causes a dip in the amount of oxygen they produce in the water. Lower oxygen means increased CO2, which lowers pH. You need to drive off the excess CO2 to increase pH. Typically our houses or apts have elevated CO2 levels in them, so your tank is not getting fresh oxygen, rather its getting oxygen mixed with CO2. To counter this, you can leave a window open at night near the tank. Or bring in outside air to your skimmer. Increase circulation at the surface. Use a kalk drip or slurry at night. Add a fuge with macro on a reverse photo period. All these thing will help. Can you get us a pic of the hammer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefin' Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 How long have u had it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 I've had it about a month1/2 but it was fine for 6months with the guy who had it before me...moved it up from grantspass. will check calcium when I GET HOME. I have a fuge and I do the reverse photo period almost everynight...sometimes I forget...I'm nervous about the calcium cause I dont have a continuous pump of it going. whats a slurry? no camera right now but will borrow friends this weekend. I have it placed lower middle area with moderate flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Think of a slurry as a thick milk, or really thin milkshake of kalk paste that is added to the sump at night. It slowly dissolves releasing calcium. I also don't dose calcium continuously. I add some kalk water right before lights out, and it is OK for the next 24 hours. Then another dose of kalk right before lights out. Not the best way, but it works. Try low in the tank, with only gentle flow. Have you tried feeding it? If the mouth opens so you can start seing the stomach it may want to be fed. How is your phosphate? I know when I had high phosphates, my FS did not do as well. There was NO growth, and the tentacles were retracted more. As my phosphate levels are dropping, there is a lot more rapid growth, and the tentacles seem to extend more. Good luck with it. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 I bet thats it someone told me that the water down here is high in those...what the best/fastest way to get rid of phosphates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Phosphate removers work well. There are also some drops from "sea-chem" that you can put in that are supposed to remove phosphates. I have started using them on the advice from the LFS. I have not done an "after" test, but before I started using them, my phosphates were at 0.13 ppm. I'll test again in a couple of weeks to see if there is any difference. Maybe you should look into using RO water. I just bought an RO unit used. I still need to hook it up. When I have done that, then I will finally be able to win the war on algae. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 I wouldn't start putting things in there until you know for sure you have a PO4 problem, it might just make things worse. Do you have a PO4 test kit? If you just go and eliminate all your PO4 as fast as you can, you are going to open the door to more problems. Nothing in this hobby happens fast except bad things. What about your other params? You say you have great water quality, but what are the readings? FWIW, i had extremely high phosphates for awhile and neither of my frogspawns were ever affected. Not saying it isn't the problem, but I just think you have something more going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jptrson Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 What are your temps, euphyllia usually seems to be the first to go when it's to warm. Last summer during the heat wave almost everyone I know lost at least some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 k my nitate is at 0 nitrite o my alk is alittle low higher than the 120 but lower than the(almost)180 an ph is also low looks like little lower than 7.8 temp is at 78.9 right now...afew days ago got up to 80.7 once a week ago it got up to 81.7......I cant find the calcium tester that I bought but I'm looking. oddly I did notice the week when I had my temp go up my anemone looked amazing but I didnt notice anything looking really stressed and the hammer looked the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mister crabs Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 well its not your temp then. I run between 80.5 and 81.6 and my hammer is growing like crazy. Mine lieks high flow (its about 3 inches in front of a koralia 1) but they are all different as to what they like. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 ugg this morning a piece on the far right side is beginning to deterioate should I pull it off or just leave it on? will it stress it more? or is it dead already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Do you have pic of what it looks like. Hammers will tend to slime pretty bad when stressed, it might look like it is deteriorating. Any fish bothering it? Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 I would guess your problem is pH and temp swings, or alk/calcium is out of balance. Don't just yank it. If you'd like i'll hold it in my QT tank for you until it recovers and you get things in order. Bring over some water and i'll do a bunch of tests for you too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted April 26, 2008 Author Share Posted April 26, 2008 pm sent impur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Hope all goes well with Hammer. I too have one but it seems to be doing great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Fishiefish - Do you use RO water? If not I would suggest doing so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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