I have recently gotten back into the hobby after a 7-8 yeah hiatus, previously having a fish only tank. I have an IM sr80 with lps and softies. The tank has been set up since April 2023. I have a question regarding one of my hammer corals. I bought it as a peach/orange colored hammer around the end of November and in the last 2 weeks or so I’ve noticed a small portion of the hammer is losing the orange on the tips and is turning the colors of the polyp stalks (a brownish grey color). I don’t think this is bleaching but I’m new to corals so I could be wrong. I’m running two kessil a360x on 50% max intensity. I also had a green hammer next to it, but moved the green one up slightly to a spot with higher flow and higher light as well, so I don’t suspect the light is too much there. I originally had the orange hammer on the sand bed on a frag disk in really low flow. When I moved the hammer to its current spot I saw tissue recession on the side facing the rock (I think from too little flow). So I increased flow around the orange hammer in the new spot as much as I could without disturbing other corals and recession does not seem to have gotten worse. The green hammer was also receding in little flow and once moved recession stopped. Can flow impact the colors of a coral like this? The flow still isn’t great but gives a slight sway in the Polyps. The weird thing is the area where recession is, is
on the opposite side of where the color is fading so I don’t think they’re related. All corals except for two candy canes seems to be doing fine. Does anyone have experience with this?
Parameter:
- alk (sal): 10.9
-nitrate (salifert): 5-10
-po4 (hannah): .22
-calcium (sal): 420
-mag (sal): 1320
-salinity: 1.026
on the opposite side of where the color is fading so I don’t think they’re related. All corals except for two candy canes seems to be doing fine. Does anyone have experience with this?
Parameter:
- alk (sal): 10.9
-nitrate (salifert): 5-10
-po4 (hannah): .22
-calcium (sal): 420
-mag (sal): 1320
-salinity: 1.026