Bleached Bird of Paradise Recovery

[fishieness]

It is often thicker, though I've seen numerous grown out colonies, including my own, that have the thinner, more spindly branching. As with many birdsnests, it has to do with lighting, growth rate, flow, etc. I've also seen a lot without the huge bushy polyps that they seem to always have when they first come from ORA, which is where I think some of the "thickness" comes from.
That's not to say it is absolutely a BOP and not the same coral from a different source, just saying it easily could be.

 

[Gyr]

I read that some people put their BOP in higher flow in order to reduce polyp extension so they can see the color of the base. From what I have read this did not seem to impede growth, just changes the growth pattern a bit.

Hey, that's cool. Right now I really like the way the tips glow in contrast to the dark purple branches. When it gets bigger I'll move a frag of it into high flow area. That's one of the things I like to do, put frags of the same coral in different location in my tank and see how they differ based on their own little micro-environment.

 

[glennr1978]

And that is absolutely a Bird of Paradise. The green is faded but shows up more later on.

I'm gonna have to disagree... I've NEVER seen a BOP with sharp growth tips like that. IMO, the frag in the pic is most likely a TUbbs BN. However, the BN that is not the main focal point in the pics actually does look like it could be a BOP.

 

[israel.kendall]

So I took some good advice and just left the BOP where it was. It's getting some really nice green to the base. Here's an updated pic, taken in different lighting too I think.

 

[israel.kendall]

I'm bored and need something to do with my pics, so here are a couple of recent shots of this BOP. Some of the base is a yellow color and some is green, might try to move it down a bit to see if I get more green. I turned it around because I like this viewing angle better. Pics taken under a Blue + and an actinic bulb.

 

[cthedaytrader]

looks great

 

[barjam]

Is flow the only way to reduce polyp extension on these? I have 70x flow with one of the ph pointed directly at it and it has massive polyp extension that hides the base. Another Ora seratopia next to it is doing the same thing.

 

[israel.kendall]

looks great

Thanks!

 

[preef]

Is flow the only way to reduce polyp extension on these? I have 70x flow with one of the ph pointed directly at it and it has massive polyp extension that hides the base. Another Ora seratopia next to it is doing the same thing.

I have mine in high random flow and it still has massive PE. I can only see the green base when the random flow briefly pushes the polyps to the side.

 

[israel.kendall]

Is flow the only way to reduce polyp extension on these? I have 70x flow with one of the ph pointed directly at it and it has massive polyp extension that hides the base. Another Ora seratopia next to it is doing the same thing.

I'm not sure, maybe someone else who reads this can chime in. From everything I read I wouldn't expect you to have that sort of extension with flow like that. How much light is it getting?

I can tell you mine is kept in pretty low flow by SPS standards though, and I get the polyp extension shown in the pictures. If I feed the tank, or blow off my rocks, then I get that massive fuzzy base-hiding extension for about 20-30 minutes.

 

[barjam]

I have 2x250 mh and it is midway down the tank. It I'd kinda shaded a little bit from a coral above though. Perhaps it is lighting.

 

[allsps40]

Looking very good. I agree I have my different birds nests in very high flow and light. They always get great PE. Very fast growers. My Neon Green BN is the most fragged sps in my tank.

 

[israel.kendall]

I have 2x250 mh and it is midway down the tank. It I'd kinda shaded a little bit from a coral above though. Perhaps it is lighting.

Hey, if it turns out it's the lighting let us know, it might help someone else out too.

 

[israel.kendall]

Looking very good. I agree I have my different birds nests in very high flow and light. They always get great PE. Very fast growers. My Neon Green BN is the most fragged sps in my tank.

Thanks! I think the great PE is was barjam does not want lol, I don't blame him either, can't stand the big fuzzy purple look.

 

[israel.kendall]

Taking pictures of my corals and nothing to do with them, so I'll put another one up here. This one taken under 2 Blue +, and one actinic. The base is getting a lot greener and I moved a Botryocladia sp macro up behind it if anyone is wondering what that is.

 

[Gyr]

Very nice. Good job.

 

[israel.kendall]

Very nice. Good job.

Thanks!

 

[israel.kendall]

This porcelain crab hitched in on some live rock when I first set up my tank. It used to hide all the time but it's made itself at home in my BOP over this past week. Wish I had a macro lens......

 

[M88A2]

thats awsome, do you feed anything specific to that crab or spot feed?

 

[israel.kendall]

thats awsome, do you feed anything specific to that crab or spot feed?

I don't feed anything to the crab specifically, it just filters the water and gets what it needs that way. I recently increased flow overall in my tank and now the crab likes the way the water moves up around the BOP I guess.

I try to spot feed my corals once or twice a week, but sometimes I'm just too busy and don't get to it.