Birds Nest in Trouble???

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

So my ORA Birds Nest has a few tips that look brown???
Am I in trouble??

My tank parameters seem to be in check....

P-Dub · Mar 25, 2018

That photo is difficult to see the true colors. If you can take a photo in white light only or just the camera flash that might help. The colony otherwise looks really happy.

jsker · Mar 25, 2018

DarthSimon said:
So my ORA Birds Nest has a few tips that look brown???
Am I in trouble??

My tank parameters seem to be in check....

Please do share those tank parameter please? What kind of light are you running and how long?

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

Tank parameters :
Salinity 1.026
PH 8.0
Phosphates.04
Nitrates 4-5
Calcium 440
Magnesium 1300
Alk 8.8

Lights I have 3 Radeon XR15 pros with Diffusers.
Reef Energy program without reds and greens,
I have been slowly inches up to 60 percent power during peak lighting last few weeks. I went from 59 to 60 over night....

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

Also I added 2 Maxspect Gyre 230's to my tank this past Monday. Do you think this is to much flow??
I have them set to a program and max 30 percent, and the sync and work off each other....

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

What's bothering me is a see a few white tips, and they are brown at the very tip.... This has to be bad???

Barrett · Mar 25, 2018

Is it maybe just some algae on the tips? Have you tried gently cleaning it off with a soft toothbrush

Flippers4pups · Mar 25, 2018

What's your alkalinity at? White tips only with the rest at normal color and good polyp extension is good. That's growth.

White tips with the rest pale, no polyp extension isnt good. Could be lack of nutrients (you have that in your N03 and P04 levels) or too much par or alkalinity swing. You've got polyp extension, so it's not flow related. I'm going with Alkalinity swing, possible burnt tips?

If it was just growth, there shouldn't be algae growing on the tips.

Do you have other SPS in the tank? How do they look?

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

Sorry,
Just realized my first post didnt have alk. I am at 8.8. I range from 8.3 to 9.0.
My par level where the Birdsnest is located is 235 at peak power. Is the 235 to much, to little or just enough??

As far as other SPS, yes I do, they look good. Polyp extension on most, good colors, and some have growth.

The flow in my video looks good?? If there was too much flow, there would be no polyp extension with too much flow?

29bonsaireef · Mar 25, 2018

I would say this is definitely an issue from Alk swing. Once algae is growing on the tips of birdsnest its almost impossible for that branch to continue to grow. SO snip off all the tips that have algae growing on them. Your par levels seem fine for that piece and birdsnest can take an insane amount of flow. If your alk swings from 8.3-9 this could cause the tips to burn.

Flippers4pups · Mar 25, 2018

DarthSimon said:
Sorry,
Just realized my first post didnt have alk. I am at 8.8. I range from 8.3 to 9.0.
My par level where the Birdsnest is located is 235 at peak power. Is the 235 to much, to little or just enough??

As far as other SPS, yes I do, they look good. Polyp extension on most, good colors, and some have growth.

Okay, your alkalinity is fine. Par wise 200-250 is ideal. So your okay there. I don't think flow is an issue, or your polyp extension would be less or non existent.

It's probably growth, but if your battling pest algae issues in your system, that could explain the algae on the tips. Maybe.

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

OK, I have been my told my alk swings have been to much also.... If you don't mind me asking, what is the best way to keep alk stable. I am new to SPS and never really needed to keep alk this close to a line before. SO I DOS automatically 12mg alk and 12mg of calcium daily via an Apex Dos. I also do an Automatic Continuous Water change at 1.67 gallons per day using Red Sea Pro Salt.

Also my Phosphates bumped up from .10 to .21 over the last week. I quickly changed my GFO last night and we are back to .10 this afternoon. Would a Phosphate bump like that cause a to to recede and brown that fast??

Flippers4pups · Mar 25, 2018

DarthSimon said:
OK, I have been my told my alk swings have been to much also.... If you don't mind me asking, what is the best way to keep alk stable. I am new to SPS and never really needed to keep alk this close to a line before. SO I DOS automatically 12mg alk and 12mg of calcium daily via an Apex Dos. I also do an Automatic Continuous Water change at 1.67 gallons per day using Red Sea Pro Salt.

Also my Phosphates bumped up from .10 to .21 over the last week. I quickly changed my GFO last night and we are back to .10 this afternoon. Would a Phosphate bump like that cause a to to recede and brown that fast??

Running GFO has it's benefits and down side. GFO is great to reduce P04, but causes alkalinity to drop. How much drop depends on how much you use, water volume.....etc. a P04 jump like you had may have cause this, maybe.

Keeping alkalinity stable can be done by maintaining your other two values, calcium and mag in proper levels. Me, I also use kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide) in my ATO for this reason. Read up on it's use and if you think it may help you.

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

Flippers4pups said:
Running GFO has it's benefits and down side. GFO is great to reduce P04, but causes alkalinity to drop. How much drop depends on how much you use, water volume.....etc. a P04 jump like you had may have cause this, maybe.

Keeping alkalinity stable can be done by maintaining your other two values, calcium and mag in proper levels. Me, I also use kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide) in my ATO for this reason. Read up on it's use and if you think it may help you.

So I do DOS Alk and Calcium, and Magnesium. If I am getting fluctuations, does that tell you I am not dosing enough??? I do 12mg a day of each alk and Calc, and 7mg Mag via an Apex Dos.

Flippers4pups · Mar 25, 2018

DarthSimon said:
So I do DOS Alk and Calcium, and Magnesium. If I am getting fluctuations, does that tell you I am not dosing enough??? I do 12mg a day of each alk and Calc, and 7mg Mag via an Apex Dos.

For me, a .5 swing isn't enough to worry about. Even a swing from say 9 to 8 dkh in a week isn't a big deal too me and does nothing to my corals. Now let's say 8-9 in a hour, that might be trouble.

I dose by hand alkalinity and test twice a week. I try to keep 9-10 dkh in my system. Each system is different and dependant on the type of corals you keep, how fast they are growing and water volume.

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

Thank you Flipper4pups... I plan on testing daily for a few weeks and will try and keep tank stable....

Flippers4pups · Mar 25, 2018

DarthSimon said:
Thank you Flipper4pups... I plan on testing daily for a few weeks and will try and keep tank stable....

Your welcome, I think you'll be fine. Testing daily for a week is best to tweak your dosing.

DarthSimon · Mar 25, 2018

So I took coral out, how does it look, it really only had one branch that was brown , I snipped it off.... Not sure what the heck I was seeing earlier, but looking at the coral closer, I visibly only saw one browned our tip.

Does this show growth??

It's back in tank and minutes later posts already out...

Gareth elliott · Mar 25, 2018

What additives are you dosing? Even amounts daily of alk and cal seem normal but 7mg daily of magnesium? Some additives like triton i gander balance this differently but I think those similar to randy’s recipe (brs) is something like a 12:12:1 ratio.

DarthSimon · Mar 31, 2018

So my magnesium has been at 1350 with dosing.
I think the Birds Nest isn't doing so well still....
Could this be to much flow? As you can see, the tips don't look good. The are white and brownish color. Some look like they are receeding. All my other sps look great in my tank. Polyp extension and growing.