Problems with Hammer and Torch coral

[w_knowles]

I have a couple of hammer corals and torch corals the last week i have noticed that on the heads the exoskeleton is starting to show the head of the coral is shrinking i dont know what would cause this. I have my halides on for a 2-5 hours a night. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[Joe Fish]

2 - 5 hours isn't very long for lights. I would say 8 hours. Do you feed them? Did you test any water params? If so, what are they.

 

[angelmom]

2 - 5 hours isn't very long for lights. I would say 8 hours. Do you feed them? Did you test any water params? If so, what are they.

I also agree that they are not getting enough light.

 

[TRe]

that is unless he just upgraded to the halides in that case he'd have to slowly work up top about 8 hrs.... otherwise i agree 2 hrs is not nearly enough

 

[azfishgal]

The hammer likes moderate lighting and moderate currents so check to see if it's being hit directly by your powerhead or right under the MHs, move him if he is. My torch seems to prefer being in the sand now that I have my MHs running, so see if that makes a difference. Also, make sure you have enough calcium in your tank, around 400-420.

 

[w_knowles]

hammer coral dying

I checked all my water perams and they are all in range of what they should be, I dont know what else it is. I now have my 250 watt halides on for 4 hours a day so they should be getting enough light now i would think. Any other suggesting on why they are dying?

 

[iplaydafoozball]

could they be getting too much flow? my frogspawn and hammer used to retract when they got too much flow, so i pointed it elsewhere. also, 4 hours is still not enough light. halides are like bright sunlight, think how long the tropics get bright day sun...like 6-8 hours at least. my euphyllias take about an hour or two to open up once the lights come on, so maybe you aren't giving them enough time. and for your parameters, i know most euphyllia coral can tolerate higher nitrates, so check your iodide and calcium levels, that might be the problem, although i doubt it is.

 

[Limi310]

I checked all my water perams and they are all in range of what they should be, I dont know what else it is. I now have my 250 watt halides on for 4 hours a day so they should be getting enough light now i would think. Any other suggesting on why they are dying?

To kinda echo what iplaydafoozball said..............Consider for a moment how many hours the sun is out each day.......they still aren't getting enough light. Can you only imagine if humans had 4 hours of sun and it was mostly dark the rest of the other 20 hours?
However if you raise your light time, make sure you do it slowly. You don't want a big jump all at once or your corals will have metabolic shock.

Light may not be the only reason either...what are the actual readings of your water tests? And it would also be helpful to know a little more about your setup. Ie, tank size and what kind of equipment you have, also what temp your water is at.