Frogspawn and Hammer Struggle after new sump

[mcmasterson]

I just started a small 10 gallon sump w/refugium and skimmer on my 46 gal tank. I have a few corals which had been doing okay up until i started my sump about a week ago.
My purple tipped frogspawn was growing nicely and was looking healthy and now has since shrunk a bit and it's tentacles are not nearly as robust as they were prior to firing up the sump/skimmer.
Previously i had just an emperor 400 HOB filter running and thats it.
I have been fighting a big battle with GHA the past few months and the skimmer and sump set up is battling it nicely and i finally seem to be winning. my branching hammer was struggling badly against GHA growth and was really small to begin with, but now it looks like it is clinging to life.
Also, the first couple days while i was tuning in my return lines and flow of the sump i was dealing with a fair amount of micro bubbles. I have since remedied these and have been bubble free the past two days.
So did the micro bubbles hurt my corals, or was it something else?
My water parameters are exactly the same as they were prior to the sump being established. zero trates, trites, no ammonia, ph about 8.2. my calcium is about 340 or so and is low, but it was low prior to sump so it hasnt changed. I have since bought some liquid calcium to boost it
So i am hopeful it was just the micros that caused them to shrink up and not look good as i cant figure out what else caused this?

 

[mcmasterson]

Anyone ever experience something like this before with the introduction of the sump??
They are still suffering and fear they may end up in an early grave.
My open Brain coral is doing ok as is my colt coral so not sure why the frogspawn and hammer are hurting.
My leather is not what he used to be either

 

[bill109]

they will do that if the flow has changed to much flow and you wont get the full poly extension.. frogspawn are bullet proof. i had a problem similar. something was killing it off after a near tank crash. i kept it and now it has grown close to 20 huge heads and is basketball size. it will be happy once it adjusts.
how about temp swings, pH swings?
no need to worry untill it really starts to not open at all.

 

[mcmasterson]

My frogspawn is still opening up, but my hammer is barely doing it. i had two heads and one is barely perceptible right now and looks like it is heading to an early grave. The 2nd one i hope will come back, but looks soo weak and meager right now.
Temp swings maybe just a little bit. after the addition of the sump i maybe have seen 2 degree swings. I have swapped out my heater as i never had issues with temp swings before. but i figured 2 degree swings was super drastic. I had dealt with a1-2 in the past and never affected the corals.
PH has been steady throughout the entire process.

 

[spanko]

Could you post up a couple of pictures? A full tank shot as well as some close ups of the coral in question. Are they on a continual decline or have they just "shut down" some since the addition of the sump and remained pretty much in the same condition since? Is the sump tank and the skimmer new as in just purchased? Is the flow from the sump now pointed at the coral or changed in amount in the display?

 

[mcmasterson]

I will try to snap a couple photos. My camera doesnt do well on tank pictures. The frogspawn is on a continual decline i would say. The hammer has pretty much shut down and doesnt expand at all. I tried putting it a little higher and it didnt affect it. They both have been in the sand since i have purchased them and were doing ok. Sump tank and skimmer are both new. All i had before was a HOB emperor 400 filter. Flow from the sump is pointed parallel with the top of the tank and follows the top of the tank only so that flow isnt touching these corals.
Let me see what i can do in terms of pictures.
I find it weird since water clarity has only gone up. I have been dosing with calcium and brought that # up to 400 now as it has been and was previously around 350 or so. But they were thriving at the 350 level before.

 

[mcmasterson]

Here are some pictures of some of the corals that have been struggling big time.
You can see a lot of algae in the hammer picture. Still battling that problem. Doing weekly water changes, sump is running with Caulerpa in the refugium and skimmer is pulling a lot of gunk out.
Even with the GHA on the hammer, prior to sump addition it was still opening up on 2 of the 4 heads and looked halfway healthy. Now only 1 head opens, the other 2 i believe are long dead and one is clinging to life. Should i cut the two dead heads off? If so how? Just use a knife and right down the middle or just leave the dead heads on?
The frogspawn is on a downward spiral. It was at least the size of 1-1/2 softballs prior to sump addition. Now it looks terrible and hardly opens.
Frogspawn:
Bought it with i believe 3 heads and had expanded to 6 and now looks really bad

Here is the near death hammer:

Here is an open brain that has shrunk a little bit but is looking healthy again

 

[ibew41]

what is your alkalinity level at