Birds nest sps questions

[Acronuts]

I have a few questions on why I can't seem to keep birds nest sps any more.
A little history first......I had a gorgeous ORA green birds nest that grew and grew. I had a bonape birds nest and another purple body birds nest that did the same grew and grew.
What was the success? I was dosing 2 part solutions. Water parimeters were fine except nitrates were always around 20 to 25ppm.
A year ago I changed to a ca reactor and from that point on I can't seem to keep these guys?!
At first I thought that it was an alk spike? So I watched out and made sure that the alk stayed as steady as possible.
Mg has always been a problem for me with keeping it between 1300-1500. Its normal range in my tank 1200 to 1220.
Could this be it?
Lately I have seen an increase in CA counsumption and what used to be CA at around 440 to 460 is now at 400 to 410?
Could this be it? Not enough CA?
I don't have any pest that I can see of, what else can it be?
Temp is a constant 78
Phos is now at 0 since using Ecobak week 6
Nitrates are keeping at .02 to .05 with salifert test kit
Could it be that these guys need less clean water?
All of your input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ronnie]

I went through a phase where I was unable to keep seritopora alive for more than a month.

Most people say that birdsnest is very hardy - I disagree. Birdsnest along with my monti caps are among the first to show signs of something wrong. In my case, it was a combination of nutrient levels and alk swings.

My nitrates were like yours, hovering around 20 - and then my phosphates jumped up, stunted growth, and my dosing pumps kept dosing the same amount, even though nothing was using the supplement due to stunted growth.

I would say that is what has happened with your system - nutrient levels spiked - it just happened the same time as you put on the CA Rx.

Calcium at 410 is fine. What is your Alk at?

Your mg is a little low, but nothing that should cause a problem.

The Ecobak may have stripped the water column of too many nutrients - but I'd think that would affect all corals.

 

[Paul_N]

Birdsnest are like my tanks warning light. I have a pink and green one. As soon as my param's (usually alk or phosphates) are off the pink and green lose their color and start to brown. I agree with Ronnie, that Ca levels of 410 should not be an issue. Also about the water being too clean that if it was all coral would most likely lose their color. How is your PH? Reactors can cause the PH to drop and I noticed when my PH was around 7.9 my BN did not look too good(browned) but everything else in the tank was fine.

 

[Acronuts]

I went through a phase where I was unable to keep seritopora alive for more than a month.

Most people say that birdsnest is very hardy - I disagree. Birdsnest along with my monti caps are among the first to show signs of something wrong. In my case, it was a combination of nutrient levels and alk swings.

My nitrates were like yours, hovering around 20 - and then my phosphates jumped up, stunted growth, and my dosing pumps kept dosing the same amount, even though nothing was using the supplement due to stunted growth.

I would say that is what has happened with your system - nutrient levels spiked - it just happened the same time as you put on the CA Rx.

Calcium at 410 is fine. What is your Alk at?

Your mg is a little low, but nothing that should cause a problem.

The Ecobak may have stripped the water column of too many nutrients - but I'd think that would affect all corals.

Interesting thought. When it all started to take place I had gone from ALK always being around 12 to 13. At this point I was using a two part solution I did not realize that I did not need to dose alk always. Water changes done with RC. Water parimeters seemed to at least be fine. I used resins to remove phos but it would creep up. Nitrates would be kept under control with wc.
I changed to the CA reactor and about a month later started using NEO Marine salt mix. Between the two my ALK went down to around 9 over a period of 2 weeks. Getting busy with work makes us get lazy with our tanks. I did not do a wc change for 2 months I bought pre-mix water from my lfs and boom! The bomb went off! I don't blame my lfs store they are extremely reputable.

Birdsnest are like my tanks warning light. I have a pink and green one. As soon as my param's (usually alk or phosphates) are off the pink and green lose their color and start to brown. I agree with Ronnie, that Ca levels of 410 should not be an issue. Also about the water being too clean that if it was all coral would most likely lose their color. How is your PH? Reactors can cause the PH to drop and I noticed when my PH was around 7.9 my BN did not look too good(browned) but everything else in the tank was fine.

PH is according to my American Marine ph dig reader it says 8.12 to 8.34. I calibrate every six months to be safe. Paul I can honestly say I have no clue what it drops down to. I have checked at around 8 am and it read 7.69.
Should ph be constant 24/7?

Going into week 6 of using EB I can see that the tank is going thru a mini cycle. Brown and green diatom algae is coating the front and sides of glass. I don't think with everyday feedings that I have super clean water.
Paramaters as of 10-10-10
Salinity 1.024 using refractometer
Temp 78 degrees constant with chiller
Alk 10.9 using Salifert test kit
PH 8.18 probe with AM dig reader
CA 410 using Salifert test kit
Nitrate 5ppm using Salifert test kit
Phos 0ppm using Salifert test kit
Mg 1200 using Salifert test kit

 

[Troylee]

I have a ponape and it hates light!!! I keep it in the dark with the chalices and it does great... Put it in the light and it don't grow or anything lol... Got a Ora green one that loves low light and super flow also... Never really had a proble
Besides my first piece way back in the day lol...

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Dont worry about your PH, mine make those swings every worse in the winter when the house closes up


Just curious, what is your SG at?
Also I have friends that battle Mg issues when they had their Ca around 460 to 480 they dropped the Ca to around 420 and dont battle the swings.
I had issues with Mg being low as well when my SG was below 1.024

Oops juat saw your params where SG was 1.024-
I run mine at 1.0255
Mg 1420-1450
KH 10.8
Ca 420
No3-.05
PO4 .02-hanna meter
all other test are Salifert
PH swings from 7.95 at night to 8.35 in the day

My guess is the alk swings, if I read that correctly, I thought you mentioned spikes-My Ca reactor keeps it all dialed in rock solid with the help of the apex.

Good luck
But I have to agree your params seem fine other than low mag but that should not cause the problem

 

[Steve W]

I have heard of several people having similar problems after starting to use the Ecobak. Now I'm not blaming the system, but I wonder if lowering the nitrates and phosphates so low so quickly isn't causing the bacterial fauna in the live rock to die back. This reduces the microbial plankton available to the acroporas. I am a big believer that coral have to be fed to thrive and the plankton feeds the acros. This in turn weakens the coral leading to die-back with small parameter changes.

Do you feed with marine snow or a similar product? If not, you might try it a couple of times a week. This might help your Birdsnests.

Steve W
24 gallon nano w/ 150 w MH