Browning question

[mallorieGgator]

I'm having a problem with my Ponape birdsnest browning. I've had it for about 1.5 months and it's growing some but not colored up. It's brownish now. Still has polyp extension. It's under 4 t5s about 6 inches from the water's surface. It's in high flow.
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate 0ppm
Phosphates: 0ppm
pH:8.0
Temp: 79F
Mg: 1500
Alk: 8.6
Ca:440

Any advice? I have a Tenius, Sunset Monti, and a caroliniana which are all holding color great and growing fairly well.
Thanks!

 

[karsseboom]

i would say not enough light for a BN.

 

[mallorieGgator]

Should I move it up? It's getting transferred to a tank here shortly and we will have halides.

 

[somethingphishy]

i would say not enough light for a BN.

from what ive researched they tend to achive better color in medium light...

 

[israel.kendall]

I'm having a problem with my Ponape birdsnest browning. I've had it for about 1.5 months and it's growing some but not colored up. It's brownish now. Still has polyp extension. It's under 4 t5s about 6 inches from the water's surface. It's in high flow.
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate 0ppm
Phosphates: 0ppm
pH:8.0
Temp: 79F
Mg: 1500
Alk: 8.6
Ca:440

Any advice? I have a Tenius, Sunset Monti, and a caroliniana which are all holding color great and growing fairly well.
Thanks!

What's the distance from the lights to the water, and from the water surface to the coral? Also, what kind of bulbs and how old are they?

From your description it's hard to tell how far from the bulbs the coral is. I have three different birdsnests from 8-12" away from 4 54w T5's on a 55 gallon. All three have excellent color and growth with this lighting IME.

 

[Alex T.]

I have a pink birdsnest. It's located in the front left corner of my tank, only 2 inches off the sandbed. It is indirectly lit by a 400 watt Radium in Lumenmax Elite Reflector and is doing great. My tank is 27 inches tall and the bulb is 10 inches off the water. Every time I tried locating it more toward the direct beam of light it did not respond well....less color and polyp extension.

I'm confident that with your t5 lighting you have more than enough light for a birdsnest if there is a daylight bulb in the mix. I would start it off lower than you may expect. IME treating any Seriatopora like a moderate light montipora has always garnered better results in color and growth. Mine also doesn't seem to like strong water flow as much either, so I've buffered the direct flow of a Vortech's upswell with a piece of live rock that slows down the area near the birdsnest. I know that I'm using a 400 watt bulb, but it is a 20k, not a bright 10 or 12k bulb that may even burn it. I had a Maxima clam on the sand bed next to the birdsnest and it did better when I moved it closer to the stronger light, so I'm confident that the current location of this coral is in a relatively moderately lit area.

 

[mallorieGgator]

The light is 7" from the surface and the coral is 6" from the water surface. I have individual reflectors so it's very bright. I have a Crocea that is growing very well and the tenius, caroliniana, and monti and growing well and show excellent color. I have 2 ATI blue +, one KZ new gen, and one kz fiji purple. The bulbs are 4 mos old.

 

[Alex T.]

I would relocate it to the sandbed in a lower flow area and see how it responds. Then slowly move it up once a week until you find a sweet spot. I t may surprise you how well it will do in a lower lit area....mine did.

 

[mallorieGgator]

Thanks! Hopefully I can get it off the rock. It's superglued and epoxied in.

 

[somethingphishy]

my ponape is located about four inches from the bottom in a 50 breeder 36x18x19...the tank is lit by a 6 bulb t5...pe and color is great...like said yours might do better slightly lower

 

[somethingphishy]

here is a pic but my phone camera does not do it justice/colors are brighter in person

 

[mallorieGgator]

Nice! Mine looked like that for awhile. Then it just turned brown. I did move it down to mid water level with higher flow. Hopefully it'll recover. How long does it usually take for them to color up again?

 

[ChicagoReefOne]

These grow pretty fast for me and for others, it should show improvement within 1-2 weeks. Mine did

 

[mallorieGgator]

Thank you much!