Zigman's RSM C250
- Thread starter zigman
- Start date
Aussie orange wall hammer - way lower maintenance than the Duncan!
First time I see an orange hammer. Enjoy it !!
Daniel
Thanks Daniel. I think the Orange is pretty cool too. May get a neon green hammer in the future, they are also cool looking too, and I was pretty impressed with how quickly the hammer acclimated to the tank. The Duncan, on the other hand, required quite a bit of attention and was moved several times before it settled down and looked happy.
Joeys Tank
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about the two emerald crabs and clown fish 
Coral additions are looking good! My hammer quickly opened up as well once it was introduced to the tank and under lighting. Yes, very easy to care for.
Coral additions are looking good! My hammer quickly opened up as well once it was introduced to the tank and under lighting. Yes, very easy to care for.
Love the orange hammer !
Does anyone spot feed their hammers? Heard about sweeper tentacles coming out of them at night but haven't seen any thus far, and with no mouth and no filter I can see not sure where I would offer the food. Thought I read they like mysis or baby brine shrimp but seems questionable
I don't target feed my hammer coral, but when I feed the tank, I hold frozen cubes in front of the left circulation pump nozzle while they thaw, this disperses food through out my tank. I also keep my Vortech running while feeding , the fish go crazy feeding & all the corals get some.
If interested... you can see my hammer coral here at this direct link to him he is bigger than a beach-ball
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...2437-glenns-reef-rsm-250-a-25.html#post933056
If interested... you can see my hammer coral here at this direct link to him
he is bigger than a beach-ball http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...2437-glenns-reef-rsm-250-a-25.html#post933056
Couldn't figure out why the green finger leather kept retracting its polyps and never looked happy. Figured it out today. That last evil emerald crab had taken up residence under it and caught him eating its polyps one by one. Grabbed that sucker and my last emerald crab has been evicted!
mastabenzo
New Member
wow how did you manage to get the emerald crab out? I have 2 that Iam trying to get out myself.
Are you sure it was an emerald crab?
Those crabs (emerals) are reef safe. I always have them and never ever have an issue. They eat all the time stuff in the rocks. I never saw them over a soft coral. Yes over an SPS, once, and he was picking on thing within the branches. The coral kept his polyps fully open during the cleaning. The crab left the coral after some minutes. Unfortunately mine passed away and I need to find another. They have a greenish color, like an "emeral".
Cheers
Daniel
Those crabs (emerals) are reef safe. I always have them and never ever have an issue. They eat all the time stuff in the rocks. I never saw them over a soft coral. Yes over an SPS, once, and he was picking on thing within the branches. The coral kept his polyps fully open during the cleaning. The crab left the coral after some minutes. Unfortunately mine passed away and I need to find another. They have a greenish color, like an "emeral".
Cheers
Daniel
Well, when I saw him picking at the finger leather, I reached in and grabbed him. He actually had such a tight hold of the coral it actually pulled the whole thing off the live rock despite the reef glue! I then pried him off the leather and dropped him in a cup, where he waits to go back to the LFS tomorrow. Easy!
Pretty sure it was an emerald since bought at LFS, but will post pic tomorrow.
Now, since my last update, my green finger leather looked unhappy for the last 4-5 days, then today, appeared to shed and is bursting with polyps again! Despite all corals and fish looking good, I am puzzled by test readings.
I tested everything today prior to planned water change.
Temp 78
pH 8.30
Nitrite 0.05
Nitrate 1.5
dKh 8.1
Calcium 460
Mg 1560
Over the last 2 weeks, I have dosed with RedSea Reef supplement B to attempt to boost alkalinity to the recommended 12.1. It went up as high as 11.2, then fell right back down over about 4 days to the current 8.1. In order to check my Redsea pro test kit, I decided to test a bucket of fresh salt water made with Redsea Coral pro salt. With salinity at 1.025, the dKh tested at 8.4. Now I thought based on the label I should get a dKh of 11.8 to 12.1 with that salinity! I am losing faith in my test kit, which is fresh with expiration date showing 8/16.
Anyone have any ideas about this.
I tested everything today prior to planned water change.
Temp 78
pH 8.30
Nitrite 0.05
Nitrate 1.5
dKh 8.1
Calcium 460
Mg 1560
Over the last 2 weeks, I have dosed with RedSea Reef supplement B to attempt to boost alkalinity to the recommended 12.1. It went up as high as 11.2, then fell right back down over about 4 days to the current 8.1. In order to check my Redsea pro test kit, I decided to test a bucket of fresh salt water made with Redsea Coral pro salt. With salinity at 1.025, the dKh tested at 8.4. Now I thought based on the label I should get a dKh of 11.8 to 12.1 with that salinity! I am losing faith in my test kit, which is fresh with expiration date showing 8/16.
Anyone have any ideas about this.
Joeys Tank
Well-Known Member
Wow, that Duncan is certainly loving life
Ok, thanks to some smart questions asked by Redsea Kev on the direct support thread, I think I have identified some newbie errors I have been making.
First, it appears when reading the Mg level on the Redsea Pro test kit, you stop when the blue color appears for about 10 seconds, EVEN if it goes back to purple after that. I kept adding till it turned and stayed blue, giving me erroneously high readings. New and correct Mg level is 1360 - just right.
Second and perhaps bigger mistake - I have been mixing my saltwater in 40 g batches and storing outside in Florida heat, often reaching temps of 100+ degrees. What starts as fresh saltwater with a dKh of 12 ends up with a dKh of 7.4-8 by the time I add it to the tank. Obviously this does not help me raise the alkalinity of my tank as expected.
So nothing fatal, but interesting chemistry lesson nonetheless.
First, it appears when reading the Mg level on the Redsea Pro test kit, you stop when the blue color appears for about 10 seconds, EVEN if it goes back to purple after that. I kept adding till it turned and stayed blue, giving me erroneously high readings. New and correct Mg level is 1360 - just right.
Second and perhaps bigger mistake - I have been mixing my saltwater in 40 g batches and storing outside in Florida heat, often reaching temps of 100+ degrees. What starts as fresh saltwater with a dKh of 12 ends up with a dKh of 7.4-8 by the time I add it to the tank. Obviously this does not help me raise the alkalinity of my tank as expected.
So nothing fatal, but interesting chemistry lesson nonetheless.