Hammer coral help

pdimarco · #1 06/12/2006, 07:12 AM

I recently bought some big hammer corals it was too good a deal to pass up. I do not have any experience with LPS and would like to know what is required.

I currently have a 90 gal with a wet/dry sump, corallife protein skimmer and a 4x65 watt power compact. I have the hammers towards the top 9" of the tank.

Any help would be appreciated

sufunk · #2 06/12/2006, 10:08 AM

The lighting isn't quite enough for the Hammer, imo. Try to see if it will eat anything, try something meaty and chopped pretty small and spray some over him and hopefully he will eat some. They are kind of hit or miss with spot feedings ime. Ive never really had any luck spot feeding frog's torch's or hammer's.
They like a little flow but not too much. See how it does but you may wanna think about upgrading the lights.

reefgeek84 · #3 06/12/2006, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sufunk
The lighting isn't quite enough for the Hammer, imo. Try to see if it will eat anything, try something meaty and chopped pretty small and spray some over him and hopefully he will eat some. They are kind of hit or miss with spot feedings ime. Ive never really had any luck spot feeding frog's torch's or hammer's.
They like a little flow but not too much. See how it does but you may wanna think about upgrading the lights.

The lighting is plenty for it. I have mine under 30wats of regular FLor. bulbs. They like low indirect flow. You can feed if you want but it will pick up extra stuff out of the water and fish food that you feed. They can really have sting on other corals so keep it away from other corals. They are easy to take care of.

sufunk · #4 06/12/2006, 04:10 PM

Not sure how you can say that is plenty for it definitively? You may have had success with that but that is no the norm. I've never heard, read or experienced that they like less than moderate lighting. 230w of PC on a 90 gallon isn't exactly moderate. They feed on zooxanthellae and 230w of pc isn't going to provide alot of sustenance, imo. You may be able to target feed it but that is hardly guareenteed. They need decent lighting.

reefgeek84 · #5 06/12/2006, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sufunk
Not sure how you can say that is plenty for it definitively? You may have had success with that but that is no the norm. I've never heard, read or experienced that they like less than moderate lighting. 230w of PC on a 90 gallon isn't exactly moderate. They feed on zooxanthellae and 230w of pc isn't going to provide alot of sustenance, imo. You may be able to target feed it but that is hardly guareenteed. They need decent lighting.

I can tell you for sure that with the righ water params it will be plenty of light. You can keep alot of LPS sheltered in a tank and they will do fine...they feed off a little more "dirty" water, the LPS that need good lighting are acons, lords, some brains, favia, etc. but as for the "hammer" family they will do find in lower light. Just like I have had success with SPS in my tank, granted its monti, but still I was told that there was no way it could be done, oh but it has. Trust me that light will be plenty, he could move it up to about 6" of water just to be safe.

sufunk · #6 06/12/2006, 04:18 PM

I respectfully disagree but obviously yours is doing well. I'd like to hear what some others have to say.
Still, he probably doesn't have your "dirty" water so he will need to either spot feed it or have good lighting. What are the right parameters for dirty water?
You can't always spot feed hammers , so he may need more lighting.

reefgeek84 · #7 06/12/2006, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sufunk
I respectfully disagree but obviously yours is doing well. I'd like to hear what some others have to say.
Still, he probably doesn't have your "dirty" water so he will need to either spot feed it or have good lighting. What are the right parameters for dirty water?
You can't always spot feed hammers , so he may need more lighting.

I am saying as long as all params are good and he is not running, carbon, ozone and UV all together his water will probably be able to sustain it. That family seems more like a soft coral in terms of lighting to me that has been my expeirence.

Sk8r · #8 06/12/2006, 04:59 PM

Well, let's talk about water parameters, too.
It'll want:
alk: 8.3-11
cal: 400-420
mg: 1200-1300
sal 1.025
temp: 80
enough current to make its tentacles wave gently.

sufunk · #9 06/12/2006, 05:28 PM

Agreed, although i like calcium, sal. and temp a tiny bit higher but those sound good. I'm at 460-480, 1.026 and 82 degrees and my frogspawn, and torch seem to love it. My hammer was doing the same but traded it for the frogspawn.

Sk8r · #10 06/12/2006, 05:32 PM

I sort of suspect what makes the corals happy may vary just a shade with the other variables, like light, and age of the live rocks, and available nutrients---though I've been of a notion to try to up the calcium and alk just a bit to see if I can get a little faster growth. My tank has taken to gulping calcium compared to where I started, so maybe it might want more. But my frogspawn can't expand much more without blowing a gasket.

Buckeye ME · #11 06/12/2006, 05:40 PM

I agree that 4x65W PC is plenty, especially considering it's in the top 9" of the tank.

I have a 96W quad with a hammer about 12 inches down and it looks great.

pdimarco · #12 06/12/2006, 06:14 PM

Thanks for the help!! The hammers look good and I feed them some rotifers and brine shrimp alot of them stuck and it looks like the hammer ate them.

How far should the hammers protrude from the base?

55semireef · #13 06/13/2006, 03:16 PM

Your going to need more lighting. This is a pic of mine...

zarro · #14 06/13/2006, 05:22 PM

your going to need mh for your hamer

55semireef · #15 06/13/2006, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zarro
your going to need mh for your hamer

What? Your kidding right?

ACBlinky · #16 06/13/2006, 10:49 PM

My 30g is almost all LPS corals - hammer, frogspawn, torch, bubble, fox, acan, candycanes - along with a few softies. NO3 & PO4 are undetectable, thanks to the fuge, so I'm not sure how much they're getting directly from the water. I feed the fish fairly heavily, and at least a few times a week I add a mix of phyto, zooplankton, frozen foods and cyclopeeze after lights out - IME LPS corals LOVE to eat

In my tank 130W of PC + 28W NO T5 has been enough to keep everything happy for a year, so I have to disagree that hammers need high light. I've seen LPS bleach out and start to recede from the shock of going from the ocean into LFS tanks with MH; they can certainly adjust to hight light and do well in tanks with MH, but I really don't think they require it to do well.

off topic --> 55semireef - I believe Mauna Kea is (technically) the world's tallest mountain IF you measure from base to peak, including what's underwater. If you're measuring distance from the centre of the Earth to the peak of the mountain, Chimborazo wins. If you're measuring from sea level (standard way of measuring), it's Everest