Hammer needs help

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orchidsnfish

My hammer is looking bad. One head seems to be dying. The other heads look fine.
Water tests:
pH 7.8 (been here since day 1. Can't get it up)
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Amm 0
Ca 480
kH 8.6
Alk 3.09
Sal 1.023

The hammer is in a medium flow area about halway down in the tank. There are several other hammers and frogspawns that are all fine. I just don't know what to do for this one. Any ideas? Nothing is touching it. It may have touched a large finger leather awhile back. Could that be the issue. I'm thinking of putting a UV on the tank but not sure if I should.

Thanks
Angela
 
For your PH:

Try the Kent Superbuffer Dkh. We couldn't get our PH above 7.8 either until we started using it. Now it's perfect.

It looks JUST like kalkwasser.

I dunno. Isn't 1.023 too low for coral? I know someone can answer that :)

-Catherine
 
I think I'm going to raise the salinity although I dont think that is the cause of the problem with the hammer. Could be though.

Angela
 
I would slowly bring your salinity up to at least 1.025 (I personally run mine @ 1.026), bring your Ph up (Kent Superbuffer dKH is great stuff, but I prefer the liquid version to the powder, it's much easier to dose) and see if you can get those nitrates down. While maybe not the cause, it could make recovery a bit more likely.

I don't think that contact with a leather could cause a hammer much grief, in fact, I would expect the leather to get the raw end of the deal. I ended up getting rid of my hammer because it would extend it's polyps and sting my other LPS and softies. :evil:


Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Well I am dripping some really strong saltwater now. Maybe by the time Im grey it will make a difference. :D I wish I could get the nitrates down. I may do a 20 gallon water change tomorrow. I have been only doing 10 gallons at a time every 2 weeks. Not enough I know. The new skimmer has brought them down a good bit. I think I have some warfare going on. I thought about running some carbon to see if that helps. I do have some Superbuffer and will try that to get the PH up.

Thanks for the input
Angela
 
The salinity is not the issue. You can raise it if you prefer but 1.023 is not bad and anything can live in that! Steve Tyree keeps his tanks around 1.022 all the time!

Nitrates are a little high but not bad enough to cause issues with LPS.

Ph is a little low. But again no big deal! You may want to get some baking soda and backe it in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes. This raises the pH by cooking out the CO2. That is really all Kent Superbuffer is! Then add that as your alkalinity buffer and see if that helps.

I would guess some kind of chemical warfare. Sounds like youhave some softies so that is what I would guess. Run a large amount of carbon for about a week or so and see what happens.

I would use UV only as a last resort. Is it getting enough light?
 
The average salinity of the ocean is 1.025

Mostly where our corals come from is within about .001+- of that!


Some species are much more tolerant of salinity changes then others and almost universally can handle a little lower but have very low tolerance on the upside. In other words running at 1.022 is fine but running at 1.029 would cause issues.
 
Yes I do have a lot of softies. The tank is mostly softies with some LPS. I moved the hammer where it will get more light so were will see if that helps. I really dont have a good place to run carbon. Not where the water is forced to go through it. I thought about getting a HOT filter and using it in the sump to run carbon.


Thanks
Angela
 
I've done that before. You can buy filter media mesh bags and put the carbon in there. There's a filter company that makes pre-made media bags for their filters. I sometimes get those and throw it in.

I know a guy that put a sock full of carbon in his sump and had it hanging in the imput by a wire.

-Catherine
 
I put the HOT in the sump with some media bags and black diamond. Guess we will see what happens now. Looks sort of redneck but oh well. I would honestly run carbon on it 24/7 if there werent such a debate about it. I have put carbon in filter socks before but just was never really convinced it would work very well there.

Thanks
Angela
 
Hey what's wrong with redneck???

Anyhow if I had a bunch of softies I would definitly run carbon if not 24/7 very frequently!
 
Nothing wrong with redneck. Don't think I can laugh at redneck for some reason. I try to keep the duck tape away from the reef tank though. Already got the skimmer on jackstands so... :D

Angela
 
I have been running carbon 24/7 for years and know others that have done the same with no problem at all. I have a polyfilter in the sump 24/7 as well. For not only the benefit of water clarity but to be one step ahead in case chemicals get into the water. Not just from an accidental outside source, but also from the corals and other inhabitants as well. In the ocean not only do a lot of these corals we keep not live so close together, some do not even live in the same ocean. Besides the fact that the ocean provides so much dilution of chemicals that corals put off to gain or defend territory. There are plenty of times things go bad in tanks that are a result of chemical warfare started by one or more corals.
 
Cool. Good to know you guys aren't against running a lot of carbon. I will for sure start running it very regulary if not 24/7. Always wanted to but just worried about the whole phosphate things and it removing the elememts from my water. It's been on the tank for a few hours now and it looks better to me.

Angela
 
I run carbon 24/7 also since I have a fairly small tank with a good mix of SPS, LPS and softies. No problems yet.
 
Your best way of running carbon is actively through something like a phosban reactor.

Please read: http://www.pets-warehouse.com/carbon.htm
 
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