Hammer coral care and feeding

[felinxo]

I'm feeling pretty silly right now. I thought coral got most of its nutrients from photosynthesis and the symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae, with a bit extra from the water column.

I grabbed a hammer coral at a frag swap over the weekend, assuming it just needed some light to thrive. But then I started browsing online for pics of hammer corals to compare with mine, since it doesn't seem to be opening up fully, and I stumbled upon vids of people feeding theirs mysis. Am I wrong for not researching this better? Should I rush out and get some mysis for target feeding, or is this something I can skip?

Also, what's the deal with lighting and flow for hammer corals? I've read they're supposed to be on the sand, which means low light, right? The thing is, my tank's 30 inches deep and I'm only running a 4-bulb T5 setup, so I'm worried the sand bed's not getting enough light. For now, I've got the hammer on a rock about 5 inches from the bottom, and it seems okay, but the polyp tips don't look as full as they do in most online pics. If I move it higher up, it'll get blasted by the powerheads.

No big deal about the softie thing, just a matter of terminology. If you're looking for something similar to hammers, I'd say go for branching types - they're great. I'm a big fan of torches, personally.

[bould]

I'm still trying to figure out the difference between branching and wall hammers - I really love the look of hammers, though. I mean, I've seen some awesome pictures online and they're definitely one of my favorites. I was thinking of trying a torch, actually - I've heard they're pretty hardy.

[Floraa7]

I'm with sweetie_22 on this one, double-check that water chemistry and get back to us. Posting some pics of your setup wouldn't hurt either. I've got hammers thriving just 5 inches from the top, under a mix of T5s and MHs, and they're doing fantastically - started with just three heads and now I'm up to over 20.

[byteson]

I think it's pretty straightforward. One type of hammer coral grows upwards, branching out like the limbs of a tree. The other type grows horizontally, forming a wall-like structure.

[felinxo]

You rarely see wall frags, which is kinda funny lol.

[bould]

I got a single head frag, and to be honest, they all looked the same to me when I bought it. The guy I bought it from had both multi head and single head frags, so I'm guessing he might have fragged some heads from a branching hammer. I'll get some pictures up when I get home, hopefully that'll give you a better idea of what I'm dealing with.

[bould]

I've uploaded the pic - you can see the haze is from an algae bloom I'm dealing with.

[byteson]

That one's a branching hammer.

[bould]

It looks like it's not opening up all the way, and the polyps seem kinda shrunk. Is that normal or is something off?

[byteson]

I don't think you've got anything to worry about, honestly. It took mine a couple of weeks to fully acclimate and open up all the way. What you want to do is try to find a spot where it's gently swaying, you know, just waving a bit, and not being tossed around like crazy.