3 head hammer coral...uh oh?

[Ratbrow]

Tank is 8 weeks old, Params are good. First coral put into my tank today this afternoon. Looked beautiful. Just now (6 hours later), closed up tight.

I turned the Acticnics (sp?) on and a half out later it closed. Is closing of a coral "always" a sign that the coral is irritated, or could he just be settleing in for the night?

[kfisc]

They close at night, nothing to worry about so long as they open again in your full light tomorrow.

[RedStangGA]

Could be acclimating to your tank and/or you lights. IME hammer doesn't require a crazy amount of light.

[The Derelict]

I also wouldn't be concerned until you see how they respond after your lights have been on in the morning. I have a pretty large colony and they start to close up once the actinics kick on or I turn the lights off (obviously a much more delayed close up response to the actinics compared to just kicking the lights off).

[Ratbrow]

Good Morning...thanks for the feedback! Just turned on the actinics and he responded by opening a little...I think he is fine. This is the only bad thing about being a novice in this hobby...you just don't know what's normal and what to look for. Oh well, I'll learn.

One other question. I have a programmable AquaLife T5 lighting system. I am clueless as to how long I should run lights for him? Any suggesions? We are gone from 6 am till about 5 at night. Obviously the family would like to be able to enjoy viewing the tank from about 5 to 9. If that was your schedule, how long would you run lights and when would you start them? How long would you run the brightes lights...two hours maybe? I am clueless. Running the "stock" bulbs that came with the unit...if that helps.

Thanks

[billdogg]

I have my lights set to come on at 10AM, off at 10PM. Because most of the corals we keep come from someplace near the Equator, I figure that is about right.

[pbaldwin]

You want about a12 hour photoperiod. If you turned only actinics on at 9 am ran that for an hour or two then everything full then ramped down with actinics only starting at 7 or 8 pm that would be a nice basic program