birds nest trouble

[useskaforevil]

ok, so i have some montipora and an acro sps that seems to be doing fine, growth is slow but it is definatly growing. my tank is mostly softies with alot of zoas, a couple leathers, kenya trees, a couple litophytons, and a forgspawn that's growing quickly.

i have the 48inch original solaris my calcium is around 400 and my alkalinity and dkh were in the range my salifert test said they should be (if the exact number is important i'll retest) however my nitrates are way over what they're supposed to be, so high i can't even be completly sure the numbers right, but it looks to be somewhere around 130-160 ppm.

all my other corals are doing alright, growing well actually, execpt for the sps. is that possibly the reason? the birds nest looked great at the store but when i took it home i placed it high and close to the lights in an area that has alot of flow (maybe too much? as in rough flow) but the polyps are'nt extending at all throguh out most of the coral peice and in the areas they are they seem to not stick out as far as they did in the store.

any suggestions? i'm already trying to figure out ways to lower nitrates but help would be appreciated, its hard to find cheato around here so until i can find someone willign to sell it to me i'm out of luck

 

[tkeracer619]

It might just be the start of your problem. My pink birdsnest is the first to let me know it isnt happy. Two things I would retest to make sure of are.... Phosphates and Nitrates. I am a fan of Aquarium Water Testing, you might consider ordering a test kit from them to make sure your test kits are giving you correct numbers.

How often do you do water changes?

 

[useskaforevil]

not often at all, i did just a week ago a change 15% but i don't keep a schedule, apparently now i'm going to have to. i was told my pulsing xenia would look bad if i had a problem (forgot to mention those) but after doign some reading im seeing thats not really the case

i re tested my phosphates and nitrates and i got
nitrates: 150ish
phophates: .1

the phosphate testing chemicals might be old though.

 

[tkeracer619]

your nitrates are most likely your killer. Going to have to work on reducing them via water changes. Maybe add a remote deep sand bed and a fuge to help export nutrients. Cheato ships easy, I am sure someone in ohio would give you some.

Do you have any filter floss or bio balls.... anything that might be trapping detrius?

 

[useskaforevil]

yea actually i just found a bag of carbon that got stuck under a pipe that has probably been there for 6 months. no bio balls or filter floss though.

i found someone on RC to ship me some cheato so hopefully that will help.

i don't really have the option for a remote DSB but i do have a fuge that is algea free at the moment.

for now i'll start with water changes every other day