Birdnest in decline

[Zirco]

I added my first corals to my tank about 2 months ago. For the first month the birdsnest coral looked great. About a month ago I noticed that it was starting to grow but at about the same time it also started to look a lot worse - the flesh is much paler and far fewer of the polyps are extended.

My params:

Amm: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 5ppm
Phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 6.0 dkH
Calcium: 445
Magn: 1350
pH: 8.1 to 8.2
temp: 77.5 to 78

I light the tank with two BuildMyLED 20000 K strips lights which are set to about 70% at the moment.

I know the alkalinity is low but would that really cause such health problems? I had the alkalinity up to 7.2 but then went on vacation for 2 weeks and it dropped back to 5.7 which surprised me since I only have 10 tiny frags in a 150 gallon tank.

Not sure if it matters but I also have a Pocillapora frag that is suffering in similar ways to the birdsnest.

 

[Limestone maker]

Hello, keeping SPS is all about keeping Alkalinity, Calcium and Salinity stable.

everything else is secondary ... lighting and flow and nutrients ...

I would recommend a water change and bring your alk back up to at least 7.0-8.0, and try to keep it there. monitor it daily.

as SPS corals grow, they take up alk and calcium, and if you do not add it at the same rate, the alk in tank will lower, and the coral will stop growing and start loosing tissue.

 

[nmotz]

I added my first corals to my tank about 2 months ago. For the first month the birdsnest coral looked great. About a month ago I noticed that it was starting to grow but at about the same time it also started to look a lot worse - the flesh is much paler and far fewer of the polyps are extended.

My params:

Amm: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 5ppm
Phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 6.0 dkH
Calcium: 445
Magn: 1350
pH: 8.1 to 8.2
temp: 77.5 to 78

I light the tank with two BuildMyLED 20000 K strips lights which are set to about 70% at the moment.

I know the alkalinity is low but would that really cause such health problems? I had the alkalinity up to 7.2 but then went on vacation for 2 weeks and it dropped back to 5.7 which surprised me since I only have 10 tiny frags in a 150 gallon tank.

Not sure if it matters but I also have a Pocillapora frag that is suffering in similar ways to the birdsnest.

I also have a couple species of birdsnest coral and I'll just say that they do like higher Alk than you have in your tank. If you keep it between 7-8dKh you'll be fine. I think that is your only problem based on the information you have provided.

 

[Zirco]

... the alk in tank will lower, and the coral will stop growing and start loosing tissue.

Ah, I had been assuming the alkalinity only affected the growth rate.

I also have a couple species of birdsnest coral and I'll just say that they do like higher Alk than you have in your tank. If you keep it between 7-8dKh you'll be fine. I think that is your only problem based on the information you have provided.

I'll try to get it up to 8 dkH over the next few days. I've heard that one shouldn't raise it more than 0.5 per day so it could take a few days but the birdnest's decline has been pretty slow so it should hang in there.

Thanks all.

 

[heathlindner25]

Bleaching a bird's nest..... my first thought would be too much light. Those things are nearly indestructible as far as parameters go.