Thoughts on my birds nest?

[Rscott]

Well, I am new to reefing but have spared no expense

Tank is a Red Sea reefer 450
With all the goodies
Kessil a360x
Full apex with trident system
Red Sea skimmer
Exotech m1 and mp40’s

Auto water change system, 1.5 gallons every night

Usually
8.2
440
1350
No3 was around 25 for around 2 weeks recently got it down to 10

Phosphates same thing
Was .24 ish

Coming down now with the addition of a fuge project

Lights on about 9 hours maybe 5 hours at 80% power and the rest it’s ramping up and down

Flow is set to nutrient export mode
On the mp40’s so it’s very turbulent st times and calm during others.

8 fish all doing great. 2 BTA Also doing great.


Etc etc

Water parameters are pretty steady , dosing kalkwasser 50ml per day

Corals are not doing that great despite my best efforts

Most of them
Are loosing color but seem to have decent polyp extension


The green slimmer has good polyps but has turned more pale

The birds nest still has good color and has even had some growth. But seems to have lost some flesh??

Any thoughts on this?
Thanks in advance



Pic taken today



Pic taken when purchased

 

[blstravler]

Do you know how much PAR the corals are getting? Also are you feeding them?

 

[ScottR]

With daily water changes, does your alk swing more than .5 at a time? I’m not too successful with SPS but birdsnest has always been forgiving on my tank. I struggle to keep nitrates down which is my downfall. But I strive to keep everything - especially alk - stable.

 

[Skibum]

How long have you had water in the tank?

 

[Lawpoke87]

Dry rock ?

 

[Rscott]

Do you know how much PAR the corals are getting? Also are you feeding them?

Reef frenzy
Reef roids

Usually alternate every 2 or 3 days
No clue on par
I’ve been debating on renting a meter
Coral is fairly high in the tank

 

[Rscott]

With daily water changes, does your alk swing more than .5 at a time? I’m not too successful with SPS but birdsnest has always been forgiving on my tank. I struggle to keep nitrates down which is my downfall. But I strive to keep everything - especially alk - stable.

My alk doesn’t swing really more then .3
My trident is monitoring for me
However like I said for a few weeks I struggled to get nitrates down from the 20’s but finally around 10 now

 

[Rscott]

How long have you had water in the tank?

3.5 months it’s fairly new

 

[Rscott]

Dry rock ?

Carib Sea life rock

 

[Rscott]

The chart looks bad but see the scale
A worst case .4 swing as the tank settles in

 

[ScottR]

The chart looks bad but see the scale
A worst case .4 swing as the tank settles in

Alk is spot on. I’d maybe move them down since you said they’re high. I believe birdsnest can do ok in lower lighting than something like acros.

 

[Hemmdog]

Sps are difficult in new tanks. The birdsnest looks like it’s getting some shading that caused the polyps to go away under the branches. That’s telling me there’s not enough free floating food in the system for them to survive without photosynthesis. It will get better with time, but I wouldn’t dump a bunch of money into more acros until the system matures a bit.

 

[Rscott]

Sps are difficult in new tanks. The birdsnest looks like it’s getting some shading that caused the polyps to go away under the branches. That’s telling me there’s not enough free floating food in the system for them to survive without photosynthesis. It will get better with time, but I wouldn’t dump a bunch of money into more acros until the system matures a bit.

Interesting thought. Maybe I should rotate the plug

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I don’t think shading on a tiny birdsnest frag is something that’s going to be a worry. Large colonies yes but it looks like it got burnt because the tips are funny looking, also parts of the branches look messed up. Can we see pics of the other corals that are loosing color? If the birdsnest doesn’t get worse then I wouldn’t worry much.

 

[Lawpoke87]

I've known very experienced reefers who have struggled with sps and newly set up tanks with dead rock for over a year. Every tank is different but I do think there is something to the idea that there is often an extended maturity time for tanks started with dead rock as it relates to keeping sps. As the poster said above, I would be cautious about adding any expensive pieces until you've seen success with a few of the cheaper less demanding sps corals. The things which occur quickly in this hobby are almost all bad

 

[melanotaenia]

It looks like it is starving, and losing tissue due to this. Perhaps reduce the water change frequency, and see if that helps.

I would also recommend keeping Alk between 7-8 DKH

 

[Rscott]

I can’t reduce the water changes because I am over feeding if anything.

The tank gets so much food it’s not even funny.
The water change is only 10 gallons a week in 120 gallon tank

There is constant food in the water Colum between reef rounds, and reef frenzy.

That’s what caused my initial nitrate spike.
Maybe I could try some more targeted feeding instead of trying to assume it’s picking up from water column

 

[Rscott]

I've known very experienced reefers who have struggled with sps and newly set up tanks with dead rock for over a year. Every tank is different but I do think there is something to the idea that there is often an extended maturity time for tanks started with dead rock as it relates to keeping sps. As the poster said above, I would be cautious about adding any expensive pieces until you've seen success with a few of the cheaper less demanding sps corals. The things which occur quickly in this hobby are almost all bad

This is less demanding and cheap, it’s a $20 birds nest

Sooo I’m told

 

[Rscott]

I don’t think shading on a tiny birdsnest frag is something that’s going to be a worry. Large colonies yes but it looks like it got burnt because the tips are funny looking, also parts of the branches look messed up. Can we see pics of the other corals that are loosing color? If the birdsnest doesn’t get worse then I wouldn’t worry much.

For sure!
Will post as soon as I get home today before the tank turns Actinic in color

Also going to order a polyplab lenses kit for my phone

 

[Sallstrom]

Seriatopora species might be trickier than Acropora some times IMO.
From tanks I've run, Seriatopora usually don't thrive long term in high nutrient water.