help with birds nests

[jenreefer]

You will need to get your PO4 up to around .03. Your birdsnest will thank you. And yes, bring down alkalinity but more importantly, keep it stable at one number. I have seen tanks do fine with 11.3 but not with such low nutrients (NO4 and PO3). Bring it down slow and find a happy place. Also, that Ph is low for such a high Alk, so you might consider decreasing the Co2 into the skimmer, either with a scrubber or by running the air line to the outside of your house. 8.0 is fine, but might be dropping down at night into the low 7s.

 

[Lowstorm]

10am
Ph 7.8
Alk 12.1
PO4 0
NO3 10
Cal 490

So Yeah, something strange going on. Disconnected the kalkwasser, nothing's been added but food last night. Cal raised right along with the Alk. Argh!!!

Next step is run the air outside, Maybe do a water change, tomorrow.

 

[jenreefer]

Slow down and give it some time. Numbers do not mean anything, trends do. Keep checking Alk daily, but do not expect a quick fix, especially if your tank requirements are low. I overdosed my new tank with kalkwasser and it took months to get everything balanced after I stopped the kalkwasser. I am just now seeing a need for supplemental ca and it has been three months since I stopped the kalk.

Now alk on the other hand, I have had to dose daily and monitor daily. I had to wait it out. Now all is balanced and no coral losses.

 

[Lowstorm]

Yup, well aware to go slow. That's why I've only pulled kalkwasser today. Measuring again tonight, normal water change tomorrow.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You'll be ok to add air.

 

[Lowstorm]

The birds nest frags are hanging on, Just Not happily. In a week or so I'll know if they've made it.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The birds nest frags are hanging on, Just Not happily. In a week or so I'll know if they've made it.

if it helps. In the future if your having this stuff going on, a water change will actually do wonders. I had a very similar PH thing happen not long ago(winter eh?) in my sumpless 30. Yea I ran for the kalk, air pump, internet.
I did a 5g on the morning, one in the afternoon. Total PH reset, even into the night(and 3am when I woke up paranoid and tested ) IMO its cheaper easier and much less stressful.

 

[jwshiver]

Having the same problem with bird nest. They are my nemesis. They start to disintegrate within days. It is the only coral I have this problem with. Fourth one coming tomorrow from Unique Corals. I normally dip with Coral RX. I was told by someone I trust that this could be the problem. I plan on using Bayer this time. Has anyone seen a correlation with bird nest not making it after dipping with Coral RX?

 

[Chris Adams]

Funny people say birdsnest are easy. I have killed my share Birdsnest in the process of stabilizing my tank. Actually in my opinion they are a great indicator of something not right. For me they are 1 of the first to show issues.

I am a little confused on how your ALK and CAL went up if you are not dosing. Did you do a WC and what salt are you using?

Your kalk is there to help stabilize your parameters more than increase(correct??). The kalk is also helping stabilize your PH so when you take that off you should suspect drop in PH. CO2 scrubber as others mentioned would help with the PH drop.

Stabilize your ALK, CAL, MAG. Understand what you are doing to effect those levels(ie
WC only so what are the levels in your mix before the WC?
What are your levels in tank before WC?
What are your levels after WC?
I personally was performing to much of WC to often which effected my corals. How often are you doing WC?

Agree with others on having some PO4. My tank actually is NO3 10+ and PO4 .14 and SPS never been happier. I do need to do a params check on my tank also as those #'s are a little high for my liking/experience.

Just thought I have for you
Find a cheap Apex with PH probe/temp probe you will thank yourself every day that you can just look at the display and say what is up with my PH. Helps me remember to add kalk to my reactor(just 1 day and my PH is noticeably lower if not added)
Find your tank happy place and get a doser. It really does help you dial things in and provides more consistency then trying to do manual dosing.
We all say stability stability stability. Well in my experience manual dosing did not work because I was not consistent(life gets in the way).

Anyways you are not alone been there done that.
All above is just my experience not disagreeing with anyone else. We all have things that work for us and not others.

 

[natas]

Chris it's funny you say that because it has been the opposite for me. I had a crash once that killed every SPS in my tank except for a birdsnest colony, orange plating monti and green slimer. The first SPS to show stress was Red Dragon, then the millepora's and others.

To the original poster I would bet your issue is alk. There is nothing wrong with running a high ALK, but you have to be careful with low nitrates and Phosphates when running that high. Ignore your PH, if your hitting in the 8's you are more then fine. I found that if I run ALK higher then 9DKH my coral can only handle it if my Nitrates are 10+ and Phosphates are .08 or higher. Then again this is just my setup.

 

[Chris Adams]

@natas good example of how tanks and experience can vary so much in this hobby. It is part of what makes things so frustrating especially to the new hobbyists as they question why there are so many answers to the same questions.

Our tanks do have their own personality I swear

 

[natas]

Agree with others on having some PO4. My tank actually is NO3 10+ and PO4 .14 and SPS never been happier. I do need to do a params check on my tank also as those #'s are a little high for my liking/experience.

Take what Chris says here seriously. I think the majority of Reef tank owners have abandoned the ULN way of reef keeping. I chased it for years and when things were doing good it was awesome, but it leaves very little room for error. The last time I tried it I had a tank crash because I changed out carbon. The carbon cleaned the water too quickly and killed off multiple SPS colonies. My best guess is that I waited 2 weeks longer then normal for the change out and the carbon cleared the water to well which shocked the corals with intense lighting.

My current tank typically runs Nitrates at 10 and phosphates at .10. The only thing I consistently monitor is my ALK. I do Nitrate test whenever I have time and get bored (that test always makes me feel like a chemist), and I try to test phosphates 2 times a month. If I notice phosphates hitting .2 or higher I will change out my GFO (I use very little). I also spoil my fish. Most of them I laugh and say are borderline obese. The SPS in my tank so far love this setup. Colors look good to me, growth seems to be very good, and PE on my SPS is always good.

 

[Lowstorm]

The strange part is that I hadn't done a water change, I'll be doing one today. I'm going to test test test. Use plain old instant ocean, so I'll test that too Lol.

I won't be getting an apex soon. Son's braces come first. My Reefkeeper does good with temp and I keep up with the rest with salifert tests.

I am attributing the first test to user error. I bet it was higher and I screwed up. PH dropping makes sense at night. But the calcium raised too, so I dunno.

I was seriously only doing kalk in the ato so it was easy to dump and make all new rodi water first that.

 

[Lowstorm]

And the low PO4 isn't on purpose. I don't run carbon, gfo, or carbon dose. I stepped up feeding so it'll go up. My fish are happy for that!!!

I like the deeper colors of normal tanks, not the pastels ulns have.

 

[tvu]

Before knowing how to grow SPS over the past 2 yrs I couldn't keep the easy birdsnest coral.

In my experience Alk is the biggest thing to watch for. Alk stability is key. They struggle under drastic changes due to lighting but eventually they'll adapt. Alk changes will kill birdsnest.

 

[tvu]

Also when they start to grow. They grow like weeds and need constant fragging

 

[natas]

Also when they start to grow. They grow like weeds and need constant fragging

So true. I have one almost the size of a beach ball in my tank.

 

[Lowstorm]

Yeah, can't wait for that. One of the reasosns I love them.

My boyfriend commented last night he saw the colors coming back last night after 24 hours of no kalkwasser. Waterchange in a few hours, will be going on from there.