First coral... Branching Hammer

[Thinslis]

My new tank has cycled and I've started adding fish to the tank. But I couldn't pass up on a blue branching hammer. I've never had corals before.

Was this a mistake though as a first coral?

I did float and drip acclimation, currently I have it at the bottom of the tank proped up agaist the rock and the lights off. Its completely closed up but its only been here for 3 hours. So I'm sure that is to be expected.

[rhythmicfire]

As long as your water parameters check out okay, I'd imagine you're fine. Couldn't hurt to keep an eye on water parameters for a day or so after adding adding livestock to a new tank. Euphyllia, in my experience, tend to be somewhat hardy compared to other corals. Give it a day or so to open up :)

[Thinslis]

It did start to open ever so slightly when I turned the attinics on for a bit.

[Thinslis]

Just ran some water tests

SG: .026
Nitrites: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0
PH: 8.2
Phosphate: 0
Alk: 2
Temp 80

[fierceseaman]

I dunno what measurement you are using for alk. Is that dHK or meq/l? Either way I would call it on the low side, if its meq/l then 2.6-4.0 is a solid number, if its dHK then more like 8-12 is a solid number. Although I don't think calcium would not cause coral not to open up, you should check it and maintain it about 420 ppm. Branching hammer grows fast and unless you want to stunt its growth you should monitor Calcium.

I just had a branching coral delivered today and it has already opened up, they really shouldn't take that long.

[sherm71tank]

I agree, get those lights on and get ready! If you really want to see them grow then try spot feeding. Can you post a picture of it? I don't recall ever seeing a blue hammer.

[fierceseaman]

sherm:

There is a guy on ebay that has been selling blue hammer for a while. I myself just picked up some reverse hammer (pink tips, green tentacles). The blue hammer is interesting looking but the types that I've seen are more silvery metallic looking.

Basic colors seem to get skewed a lot when talking about corals.

[sherm71tank]

Ahh I see. Ebay blue! Unfortunately I've seen alot of colors mean different things on Ebay. If someone had an actual blue hammer (not metallic or silvery) I'd pay for it fast!

[serum153]

They shrink up when the lights are off. When my actinics only is on the hammer gets smaller, but is still very enlarged...I am in love with just about all the euphyillias. Here is a pic of mine I took the other night.
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u235/serum153/DSC01318.jpg

[fierceseaman]

that is a really nice hammer man, i think mine is going to get like that. how long did it take to grow that out? was there feeding involved? what kind of feeding if there was?

[Thinslis]

I'll have the lights on tonight, I'm fighting back some hair algae and wanted to go dark for a couple days to stunt the growth while my CUC goes to work on it.

[serum153]

I never feed my torches, frogspawns or hammer and the key is proper flow and lighting. I have my hammer in moderate flow and med-low lighting towards the bottom of the tank. It has always been pretty big, but it has just really gotten fuller as opposed to spreading. Here is a pic when I got it about 5 months ago.
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u235/serum153/DSC01260enhanced.jpg

[Thinslis]

How do you mount them? The two heads that I have are attached to a long stony pillar maybe 2-3 inches long. I have it sitting on the sand leaning against a rock. What is the best way to place this in the tank?

[Thinslis]

Meh... hit the wrong key...

[Thinslis]

Here are some pics of the Hammer.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l112/pokinu_EQ/New%20Tank%20Build/DSCN0713.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l112/pokinu_EQ/New%20Tank%20Build/DSCN0716.jpg

It doesn't look very blue to me =(

[Lotus99]

Sometimes colors don't come out well when you take pics. Possibly the white balance?

Corals don't like to rock in the flow, so make sure it's nice and stable, wherever it is. Also don't let the flesh of the coral touch rocks. You can either find a piece of live rock with a hole in it that the skeleton will fit into, or you can use some reef-safe epoxy to "glue" it into place.

It looks like it's coming out somewhat. They can take a while to get used to your tank, so give it some time to adjust.

[Thinslis]

What do you mean "Don't let the flesh of the coral touch rocks" do you mean the tenticals? or the root of the head where it attaches to the stem?

The stem is very secure in the sand and against the rock. The only thing that moves in the water flow are the tenticals. The stem is kinda L shaped, I could epoxy the step to a rock where the long end is horizontal to the rock and the short end is vetial with the heads, but I'm not sure that is high enough so the tenticals do not touch the rock.

[fierceseaman]

I would just try to glue the skeleton to the live rock. Super glue or reef epoxy should secure it nice.

By not touching the rocks he means the tentacles. Also try to remember that it will grow and branch so take that into account during mounting.

I'm reasonably certain that the coral would do just fine where it is but I think aesthetically it would look better attached to the rock.

[fierceseaman]

Serum:

looks like that is wall hammer as opposed to branching hammer.

[Hogfish77]

I was curious as to how many different variety of hammers are there? I bought one during a swap(pic of it must've had mad actinics)....brought it home and it's a pale light tannish color hammer. I don't even see any green on the tips. Had it for more than a month now. It expands and all....but just dull in color. I think I'm gonna give it away to a newbie reefer.

[serum153]

It is a wall hammer...I was just showing him how beautiful they are. Euphyillia's have to be my favorite.