Skeleton showing on hammer

[wagadodo]

Hi, I’ve been struggling to keep this hammer happy the past few days, during the day it looks some what deflated and during the night it fully retracts and shows skeleton. I’ve been struggling to keep parameters stable the past week. My alkalinity seems to drop from 7.7 to 6.9 in about 3 days. However I have other euphyllia which appear to be fine?

current parameters-
DKH 7.7
Cal- 400
Mag- 1200
N03- 10
P04 0.25
PH 8.0

 

[fishski13]

The low and sudden drop in alkalinity plus the low magnesium has been known to cause recession in euphilliya tissue and polyp bailout.

 

[wagadodo]

Thank you, I had a feeling this was the case. I have a fluval evo and I’ve been doing 10L water changes a week to get my alk back to 7.7 but a few days after my water change I’m always going below 6 dkh

 

[fishski13]

Thank you, I had a feeling this was the case. I have a fluval evo and I’ve been doing 10L water changes a week to get my alk back to 7.7 but a few days after my water change I’m always going below 6 dkh

You should start dosing. I do that for my 10 gallon tank in between bi weekly water changes. Start by finding a two part that you like and than teat your alkalinity every day or every other day for a week or two to determine the rate at which your alkalinity drops. After this you can determine a level at which you want to keep your alkalinity and than how much you need to dose.

Or you can get a salt that better maintains the values that you want to run

 

[Woodman]

Or you can get a salt that better maintains the values that you want to run

I agree with this. Fragbox TV likes to keep their MG at 1400+ what kind of salt do you use by the way? What's your Salinity? 0.25 PO4 is quite high imo.

 

[wagadodo]

I agree with this. Fragbox TV likes to keep their MG at 1400+ what kind of salt do you use by the way? What's your Salinity? 0.25 PO4 is quite high imo.

I’m currently using water from my lfs who use h20ocean, however I’ve noticed some differences in their alkalinity readings the past few weeks so I’ve just purchased redsea coral pro and I’m going to mix my own so I know exactly what’s going in my tank every water change. As for p04 I test with salifert but to be honest I find it very difficult to distinguish an accurate reading with their colour chart so I’m waiting on a hanna checker. My salinity sits at 1.025

 

[Woodman]

I’m currently using water from my lfs who use h20ocean, however I’ve noticed some differences in their alkalinity readings the past few weeks so I’ve just purchased redsea coral pro and I’m going to mix my own so I know exactly what’s going in my tank every water change. As for p04 I test with salifert but to be honest I find it very difficult to distinguish an accurate reading with their colour chart so I’m waiting on a hanna checker. My salinity sits at 1.025

My assumption your LFS didn't use the proper salt to RO/DI mix. I did a quick Google search to see what H2Ocean parameters are (screenshot above). Mixing your own saltwater is the best practice

 

[caller89]

Hi, I’ve been struggling to keep this hammer happy the past few days, during the day it looks some what deflated and during the night it fully retracts and shows skeleton. I’ve been struggling to keep parameters stable the past week. My alkalinity seems to drop from 7.7 to 6.9 in about 3 days. However I have other euphyllia which appear to be fine?

current parameters-
DKH 7.7
Cal- 400
Mag- 1200
N03- 10
P04 0.25
PH 8.0

As many have stated you need to slowly bring your KH back to 8DKH and try keep it stable. Are you dosing ? If soo you need to calculate your uptake.

Also your Phosphates are on the high side , need to try keep these below 0.1 , I run mine at 0.03 - 0.05 and control with RowaPhose and carbon dosing.

Also have you made any changes to your flow ? Or location of this hammer? They are very sensitive to changes in flow , too much can cause fatality

 

[wagadodo]

You should start dosing. I do that for my 10 gallon tank in between bi weekly water changes. Start by finding a two part that you like and than teat your alkalinity every day or every other day for a week or two to determine the rate at which your alkalinity drops. After this you can determine a level at which you want to keep your alkalinity and than how much you need to dose.

Or you can get a salt that better maintains the values that you want to run I’ve

As many have stated you need to slowly bring your KH back to 8DKH and try keep it stable. Are you dosing ? If soo you need to calculate your uptake.

Also your Phosphates are on the high side , need to try keep these below 0.1 , I run mine at 0.03 - 0.05 and control with RowaPhose and carbon dosing.

Also have you made any changes to your flow ? Or location of this hammer? They are very sensitive to changes in flow , too much can cause fatality

I’m not currently dosing however I have foundation abc on order so I plan to dose once I know how much all,cal and mag is being used up .In terms of phosphate levels I’m unable to dose carbon as I don’t run a skimmer but I’m currently using using a tablespoon of rowaphos in a media bag, plus water changes to try and get these level down. And for flow/location of the hammer I’ve been trying to find a sweet spot for it. First day I had it, it was on the sand bed (looked fantastic). I moved it further up next to my frogspawn and it looked okay for a few days then stared to recede and appear unhappy. I’ve now moved it back to the sand bed. Only issue I have with corals on my sand bed is I have a menace of a pistol shrimp who likes to displace my corals

 

[caller89]

I’m not currently dosing however I have foundation abc on order so I plan to dose once I know how much all,cal and mag is being used up .In terms of phosphate levels I’m unable to dose carbon as I don’t run a skimmer but I’m currently using using a tablespoon of rowaphos in a media bag, plus water changes to try and get these level down. And for flow/location of the hammer I’ve been trying to find a sweet spot for it. First day I had it, it was on the sand bed (looked fantastic). I moved it further up next to my frogspawn and it looked okay for a few days then stared to recede and appear unhappy. I’ve now moved it back to the sand bed. Only issue I have with corals on my sand bed is I have a menace of a pistol shrimp who likes to displace my corals

I feel your pain with regards to pistol shrimp, they can be a nuisance. Have you got a small flat peace of rock to raise slightly.

It sounds to me to your hammer has gotten the hump with his location move and maybe parameters being unstable.

I had this with my 24k torch that unfortunately died from moving him into a new location where the flow was to strong, all happens so quickly. Less that 48hours after being so happy for months before move.

Just make sure the flow is not direct , if the skeleton is being exposed by the flow or the tentacles being forced down then its to strong.

 

[ukgeoff]

I recently started dosing kalk to my tank, and within a few weeks, three of my five very healthy and established euphyllia melted away.

The PH increase from dosing kalkwasser had a side effect of increasing my tank's alkalinity - it increased it from a steady 8 to 13, by which time my euphyllia started to shrink and die.

Out of all my corals, the euphyllia were the only coral affected by the alkalinity increase, and it made me think that euphyllia are very sensitive to alkalinity levels. Once I realised how high my alk was, I reduced my kalk dose, and I've now got my alk back down to 8, and the whole tank looks better.

Maybe if your alkalinity has dropped, this could be an issue?

I feel your pain, I hope you get it sorted.