hammer coral and current

[Nanogasm]

Hi all,

I own a hammer coral which I have placed at the bottom of my tank, nestled in the substrate. It has been there for a few months, seems like its doing well.

Anyways, due to some cyano woes, I have increased the current to the lower levels of my tank. Before I did, my hammer would unfold alot. Almost tripling in size compared to its base, with tentacle extension a good 3 inches from each side. But since I upped the current down there, it keeps fairly tight now. There is some extension, but only about an inch from the base.

I'm wondering if this is ok. I'm not really sure what the normal extension of a hammer should be, and seeing it go from so big to much smaller has me wondering if it's 'happy' now.

 

[Anonymous]

Euphyila like low current, when the current is too much, you get what you are witnessing right now.

Listen to what your animals are telling you, this is an essential skill for long term success in this hobby. You had great polyp extension before. You added more current, now you don't. While B following A doesn't always mean B was caused by A, a good portion of the time it means JUST that. :wink:

 

[Nanogasm]

Some sound advice. Thanks for the info on hammer coral's current wants.

With a 24g cube, I'm finding it tough to achieve good flow in parts of the system and lower in others. Seems like I've found a good trade off though... I angled the powerhead slightly, though compromising a bit on flow at the lower level, the hammer seems to have appreciated it. In fact, I could have sworn I just saw it smile...