Hammer not opening

[Eileen van Zyldob]

my hammer coral is not opening, everything else is fine . parameters: CA160mg/l; NO310mg/l; PO4 0, 1mg/l; KH 6ºdKH; PH 9, 0

[Sniperhank]

This more than likely isn't an issue with parameters. Can you tell us more about the tank, most specifically the lighting on the system? With how white, or bleached, the hammer looks tied in with it appearing to 'reach up', it might be that it isn't getting enough light, too much light, or even simply not acclimated to the new light source.

[Eileen van Zyldob]

120L with T5 bulbs still, considering going led way with next round of replacement thats almost due.everything was fine, has been in this spot for a while.here is a pic of it on 5/02. I did then move it to the sandbed with no improvement, maybe u should see if we put it kind of in the middle and see what happens?

[Sniperhank]

How many bulbs is the unit? Is it t5 or t5ho? I think the lighting you have is close to sufficient. Your coral are def reaching to try to get more light.

[Eileen van Zyldob]

4x aquamedic FHO54W lights.its really just the hammer that has closed up..would the led way be better?

[Sniperhank]

A 4 bulb t5ho will do to keep a hammer happy. In the second picture, and even in the first, it isn't closed up. Things look just fine.
In terms of LEDs, some are better than others. They are strong and energy efficient, but some are even labeled as reef lighting then they are far from such. For most coral, 2-3 watts per led diode is what you aim for to support corals. The taotronics that can be found on eBay and Amazon are quite popular in this forum, especially due to the price. But, there shouldn't be a need to change your lighting for what you have and how it is acting at this time.

[kdpuffer]

If I'm not mistaken your no3 is 10mg/l, not sure what that translates to in ppm but it seems high. A water change might be the solution here.

[Eileen van Zyldob]

water change is due tomorrow so will test again in 2days hammer just not looking good this week and dont want to loose it

[kdpuffer]

I suspect once you do a water change it will perk back up.

[Sniperhank]

You know, you're right I didn't think about switching that number to ppm...a water change would do things good. Try to keep feedings minimal as possible to avoid high nitrates.

[Eileen van Zyldob]

hi guys, we do religiously do a weekly water change, hammer still not open.it looks like there are new little heads growing, could this also causr it to close as it's maybe usinf the available nutrients for the new heads? will post a pick in few minutes. really dont want thid hammer to die

[Eileen van Zyldob]

we have also put in 2 new lights, one white and one blue, will put the other two in at later stage cant change all 4 at one.still no difference

[Eileen van Zyldob]

hope you can see it!

[Sniperhank]

Well the one head is dying off. The others look just fine. And no, growing new heads won't take so much energy to cause them not to open.

[Eileen van Zyldob]

they are all getting smaller and smaller so guess I should prepare myself to loose them all, as they are all smaller than usual.have had this coral fpr quite some time.after visiting previous forums on a few different sites I see there is atleast a chance that they do grow back-heres to hoping on that! parameters are looking fine.only feed every other day, also dont throw the frozen block in as is, we defrost in water, drain then put foodbin.thats helped with the nutrate and phosphate and of course with that the algae control

[Eileen van Zyldob]

I was sitting watching the tank now after the lights went off-our peppermint shrimp is eating the hammer!!!!???

[Eileen van Zyldob]

we also have a purple reef lobster that seems to have eaten our lawnmower blenny and diamond back goby-would he eat the hammer too?

[Sniperhank]

If a peppermint is eating the hammer, then it is simply cleaning up the dead and decaying flesh. These guys aren't active hunters of coral by any means.
In terms of the reef lobster, more than likely it wouldn't be able to catch a blenny or goby. Even though they would perch or sit in the sand, they would swim away unless they were sick.
When you tie these things together, I would believe that there is a parameter issue going on in your tank, even with the weekly water changes. What are your current parameters?

[Eileen van Zyldob]

ph is 8, 5 but doesnt have a place where I can set it

[Eileen van Zyldob]

Phosphate is super high!