Birds nests problems

[Guygettnby]

i have 6 SPS total in my tank right now. 4 are growing fine, good polyp extension on 3 of them. the other only has the polyps extend at night, but it grows fine.

now 2 of them are birds nests. when i first got them, they were doing great. i took my time to acclimate them before putting them in the tank and slowly acclimated them to my lights. i have had them for about a month and a half. now they are loosing color and the polyps are not out like they used to be. here is a bit of info on my tank setup.

72g bowfront
2 250w 14k pheonix, on for 8 hours
4 54w T5 (2 blue +, 2 Atinics) on for 10 hours. 1hr before and after halides.
lights sit on top of tank, but are about 6-8in's above the water.
mag 9.5 return split into dual returns
2 hydor evolution 1400's on the smart wave controller. set to 7-10 seconds
2 reactors, 1 running carbon, 1 running seagel
filter floss and filter pads changed weekly
swc 160 cone, not setup to be very wet.
RODI unit putting out 2tds right now.
10% water change once a week
20% biweekly to once a month. depending on how the tank is.

i will have all the test results on thursday as my new test kits get here then. i am wondering if this more has to do with placement to be honest. but it very could be something else. no bugs or anything else on them. nothing bother them from what i can tell.

i have heard that birds nests are pretty easy to take care of and should be the test subjects to see if you can keep SPS.. this is so far not the case for me as everything else is growing and doing pretty much fine. so any insight on this would be helpful. i will be adding the test results on thrusday and the next post will have pictures of my tank and placement.

 

[Guygettnby]

the SPS circled in red are all doing fine. the one circled in red all the way to the right is the one that only has polyp extension at night. the 2 circled in black are the birds nests i am having issues with.

full tank shot showing abit more about the placement and such.

top down shot of them a few weeks ago when they really started to kinda change. the one on the right has lost all of the hints of green and the purple is not so bright in this picture. i was told it was either a ponape or a tricolor. not too sure the name. i just know i wanted it lol

 

[Guygettnby]

a couple more pictures of them when i first got them. sorry all the pictures are not that great, they were taken on my galaxy S3 phone and the color is really off. but you can see the polyp extesion being good on them.

 

[mandarinfanatic]

birdsnests seem to arrive in tanks go brownish and take a while to settle before colouring up. they seem to be very nutrient conscious too and that may be a contribution to their discolouration. at least they are alive and displaying polyps. it shows you are doing some things right. not everyone is as fortunate with birdsnests.

sent from my galaxy s3

 

[Guygettnby]

birdsnests seem to arrive in tanks go brownish and take a while to settle before colouring up. they seem to be very nutrient conscious too and that may be a contribution to their discolouration. at least they are alive and displaying polyps. it shows you are doing some things right. not everyone is as fortunate with birdsnests.

sent from my galaxy s3

they one was brownish when i first got it but only under the teal portion. i just considered that to be because it was fragged from a larger colony and that portion was not receiving much light. the problem i am having now is the fact they are turning white, not dying but bleaching i should say.

this is a low nutrient tank for sure. another thing i was worried about was too much light. but it is at the bottom part of my tank.

 

[mandarinfanatic]

what are you feeding your corals

sent from my galaxy s3

 

[mandarinfanatic]

i would feed the corals a few mls of aquavitro every second day and see how the corals react. i think it would be positive

sent from my galaxy s3

 

[Guygettnby]

Here are the tests results as of tonight. I have not been able to dose any 2 part in almost 2 weeks. Have been waiting on my shipment to come in. Will start to dose again tomarrow.

Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Phosphate 0.19ppm
Calcium 450ppm
Magnesium 1290ppm
Kh 7.3
Alk 2.62
Salinity 1.025

Not sure why my phosphates are high right now, the calcium and magnesium are alitle low from not dosing.

 

[Gills 619]

birdsnests seem to arrive in tanks go brownish and take a while to settle before colouring up. they seem to be very nutrient conscious too and that may be a contribution to their discolouration. at least they are alive and displaying polyps. it shows you are doing some things right. not everyone is as fortunate with birdsnests.

sent from my galaxy s3

+1 I know when my pick birds nest goes pale, the tank is to clean. I would suggest feeding more to up your nutrients. My brother runs a high nutrient tank (lots of algae) but always has a stunning pink birds nest

 

[Guygettnby]

+1 I know when my pick birds nest goes pale, the tank is to clean. I would suggest feeding more to up your nutrients. My brother runs a high nutrient tank (lots of algae) but always has a stunning pink birds nest

i would be scared to raise the nutrients in my tank. had a mid nutrient tank in the past and had problems keeping sps. everything else florished though.

i know my levels are abit low, so as for now im going to keep dosing, get them up to normal and see how that goes. i could up my feeding just a tad to see if that helps at all. but my phosphates are already abit high IMO.

i was more worried about my low kh/alk the most i think. but i finally got to start dosing kalk last night and started dosing 2-part a few days ago. i ran out and had to wait for them to arive. so there was no dosing for almost 2 weeks. funny how low your levels can go within that small of a time frame.

 

[power boat jim]

Before you go changing the levels in your tank, try moving the birds nest closer to the bottom or under more shaded area. If everything else is doing fine its probably not the overall condition of the tank. I take it losing color means bleaching and that can mean its getting too much light.

 

[potterjon]

.19 on phospates is high. you are looking for around .03

 

[SPotter]

+1 on high phosphates.

 

[Guygettnby]

Well got home today and noticed the purple birds nests base is dying off. Should I cut it off and glue it again or leave it be for now while I move it to another area of the tank? Not sure why the tips are still slowly growing yet the base is dying. I don't know how much less light I can give it in this tank. But it can't hurt to try another spot.

The phosphate I am working on right now. This is the highest it has been in this tank to date. The alk is being addressed as I type this.

Any other guesses why these two aren't happy?

 

[potterjon]

I have put bn in s 29 bioube with no filtration, no lights, no heat, basically no powere. Left it there for a month in the winter in my bedroom when we were using a woodstove. I pulled it out later and threw it in the bottom of my display tank and it popped up in a day or two looking healthy. I was surprised how hard it is to kill one of those things.
Stick it in the shade and lower phosphates and raise alk.
Keep us posted.

 

[Guygettnby]

I have put bn in s 29 bioube with no filtration, no lights, no heat, basically no powere. Left it there for a month in the winter in my bedroom when we were using a woodstove. I pulled it out later and threw it in the bottom of my display tank and it popped up in a day or two looking healthy. I was surprised how hard it is to kill one of those things.
Stick it in the shade and lower phosphates and raise alk.
Keep us posted.

i will move it today. but what should i do about the bottom of it loosing its skin? cut it off and glue it again or just wait and see if it grows back? it is just the very bottom of it and not much. not sure how it will look when i get home.

my levels should be coming around now. i started topping off with kalk and am dosing 2-part along with magnesium

 

[power boat jim]

I must ask why you need to add Kalk, 2 part and magnesium to a tank that has such a small coral load? I would stop everything but the kalk drip and just do water changes to get the alk to 8.5 or so DKH, you are at 7.3 now, so thats not too bad. Just cut back on feeding to help lower the phosphates.

 

[Guygettnby]

was doing both until my levels get back to normal. the kalk drip is super slow and not very much. I am only able to dose once a day so I figured the kalk drip would help me keep up with things. more of a test phase then anything.

on another note the bottom of the birds best has got a little worse. it is spreading some. Not sure if I cut it out it will make a difference right now. So I will just move it further away from the light and see how things go.


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[Guygettnby]

i had to finally cut the bottom of the purple BN off last night. the problem was getting worse. so i cut it off, glued it again and moved both of the BN to another location. hopefully they like it and dont die off. there is less light there but im not sure about the flow. the flow is less for sure.

on another note, my levels are starting to get back to normal.

 

[potterjon]

keep us posted...