Birdsnest struggle

sweeper7

Member
So my Params are

Salinity 1.026
PH 8.4
Alk 10
Cal 460
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phos .25

My birdsnest in 2 months has grown very slowly not sure why.

Lighting tek 4x36 2 blue + purple + n coral +
 
So my Params are

Salinity 1.026
PH 8.4
Alk 10
Cal 460
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phos .25

My birdsnest in 2 months has grown very slowly not sure why.

Lighting tek 4x36 2 blue + purple + n coral +

Define slowly? How deep in the tank are they placed? Flow? I have 3 species of birdsnest in mu nano, and I think they grow pretty fast. Ponape for me the fastest, BOP the slowest, and green in the middle somewhere.

Any pics? The params you posted look ok, so it's probably something your not telling us:)
 
2 months at least its grown hardly much.

now they are mid level. 2 1050 Evo PH and 250gph return at least.

what can it be that I am no telling you loll
 
A pic is worth a thousand words, maybe its something you are not showing us ;)

Just sayin, you will likely get a more thorough answer if we can see it. At least It would be a better starting point than a rundown of params

If you cant take a pic. tell us what species it is and from there we can ask you if the tips are pointy or round, colour ect.
 
Here's a picture

CA0ED660-EAEB-4763-9570-7337226C33D9-7275-0000047090FC7F7E.jpg
 
If that is your po4 reading then i agree it is part of the issue.

The tips look too round for a Hystrix. How do you suppliment alk and cal?
 
You need to replenish the alk and cal somehow and waterchanges wont accomplish that. The corals have gone "dormant" and are not consuming alk and cal wich is why your alk tests 8 and also why the tips are rounded and not growing. Invest in a calcium reactor or two part if you want your sps to grow.
 
The problem is between water changes the alk drops and then is raised.
SPS need stability to thrive and grow, along with light and low nutrients.
Get the phos lower and use something to maintain alk,cal and mag.
I use kalk in my topoff to keep things in check. Water changes and gfo to replenish
mag and help lower nutrients. I believe you will be fine once you have these under control.
 
Do you have a FTS? I don't see much if any algae in that pic. I'm assuming you used an API phos kit hence the high reading (lowest for the test, but pretty useless for SPS). Something has to be going on. Birdsnest are relatively fast growers. If you have an Alk test kit, test every day or every other day for a week, and see how much it drops between water changes. I have to dose a good amount of 2 part daily to keep up with demand. Not saying that's the case for you, but if you are keeping SPS, you should do this exercise regardless. GL!
 
what you need to do is measure the alk. Then add enough alk solution to raise the dkh by 0.5 dkh. Test again to make sure the dkh in fact is 0.5 dkh higher. Wait 24 hours, test again. The dkh should have dropped. The result will determin the baseline of your tanks consumption. ie: if your alk is 10dkh, and you add 0.5 dkh, it should measure 10.5 dkh. After 24 hours the alk should drop to 10.2 dkh (just an example) this tells you that your tank consumes 0.3 dkh of alkalinity per day. You must replenish that 0.3 dkh every day.

edit: There are calculators that tell you how much solution is required to make a 0.3 dkh addition to your tank. Bulk reef supply for instance has one on their website.
 
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I dont have any green algae or anything, what i did have was my glass was covered in film algae on an hourly basis but since I added the Chemi Pure elite i haven't had to clean it more than once every 2 days.

I got a .25 reading than I went to my LFS which they used an electronic reading or whatever and it read .27 so it was pretty accurate.

I only have 1 SPS but I was surprised that my alk dropped from 10 to 7 in about 2 days when I ran a test a couple days ago

Do you have a FTS? I don't see much if any algae in that pic. I'm assuming you used an API phos kit hence the high reading (lowest for the test, but pretty useless for SPS). Something has to be going on. Birdsnest are relatively fast growers. If you have an Alk test kit, test every day or every other day for a week, and see how much it drops between water changes. I have to dose a good amount of 2 part daily to keep up with demand. Not saying that's the case for you, but if you are keeping SPS, you should do this exercise regardless. GL!
 
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