Is my birds nest bleaching?

[Chaley88]

Just started doing this the last two days, no changes as of late. Did a water change today. My water parameters arnt perfect cause it's a fairly new tank, to me anyways. I. Bought it a few months ago from a guy and think it did a cycle anyway. This coral has been in the tank a few weeks now.

 

[WWIII]

It looks like stn, but birdsnest type acropora can sometimes stn and then continue to grow elsewhere from healthy tissue on the frag. If it were me I would just keep an eye on it. If the tissue loss continues then you can try to frag it, but with a birdsnest I would mostly just see how it does. It's not bleaching though.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Double check that is has good flow.
Make sure it has good light. Those will take quite a bit of both.

Unusual for it to die off from the bottom , so I’d def check both.

 

[Chaley88]

It looks like stn, but birdsnest type acropora can sometimes stn and then continue to grow elsewhere from healthy tissue on the frag. If it were me I would just keep an eye on it. If the tissue loss continues then you can try to frag it, but with a birdsnest I would mostly just see how it does. It's not bleaching though.

Why is it doing it though? I know my waters not perfect but could it be the flow or lighting? What causes the necrosis?

 

[Chaley88]

Double check that is has good flow.
Make sure it has good light. Those will take quite a bit of both.

Unusual for it to die off from the bottom , so I’d def check both.

It's at the top of tank and in front of a power head.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Many things cause that.

In poor health they can recede fro. The sides tips or bail out al at once.

In new tanks is also not uncommon to have trouble woth some corals.
For some it’s Xenia , for some it’s sps.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It's at the top of tank and in front of a power head.

How direct is it. Super high direct flow might be bad too.

 

[Chaley88]

It's about 6 I chest or so from the power head and the power head is pointed slightly beyond/past where its located it also gets flow from the other power head on the other side of the tank and the return. I have a Duncan doing really well right below it. That thing has like 8 to 10 heads on it. I dont really know how to explain the flow lol

 

[WWIII]

Why is it doing it though? I know my waters not perfect but could it be the flow or lighting? What causes the necrosis?

It's the million dollar question. Unfortunately there are hobbyist with very established tanks that have acros stn for no "apparent" reason. It is something causing it, but hard to know what exactly it is. The best we can do is control what we can. Stability is the number one thing we can do. That's across the board on all parameters, but alkalinity is the big one. Good light and flow is important! Sometimes it just takes time. Not sure if it's microfauna or what, but some tanks that have trouble with sps at 6 months, have no trouble at 2 years. Even with identical parameters.

 

[aslmx]

I could grow birdsnests in my 75 gal as big as soccer balls but I’ve had 3 different ones in my 120 and they all do this. Maybe you’re not like me and have the birdsnest curse. What are your nitrates at? It might be hungry.

 

[Chaley88]

I could grow birdsnests in my 75 gal as big as soccer balls but I’ve had 3 different ones in my 120 and they all do this. Maybe you’re not like me and have the birdsnest curse. What are your nitrates at? It might be hungry.

My waters been consistantly bad o guess I could say with both the red sea and api tests reading about the same. 0.25 ammonia, 0.25 nitrite and around 20 for nitrate. My nitrate has yet to go down. Tank is going on 3 months at my house, I bought it already running and just moved it, stupid newbie mistake used the old sand cause it was late evening on a weekend and was in a hurry to set back up as to not kill the fish and corals. Iv added pods, bacteria, stability, prime, carbon,biomedia, added a reef octopus skimmer and varios pump. I do water changes very two weeks at about 15 gallons on a 90 gallon tank to try and combat. My Duncan,blasto and pipe organ are all super happy. My calcium is slightly off the charts as well as my alk. So their abit high. I add a cap of purple up once a week for coralline growth though I have growth. I try not to add to much cause I know it raises calcium and mines already high. I feed the fish once a day sometimes twice for the crabs and such at night. I reef roids a few times a week. I know I'm probably doing alot wrong but I'm still learning. All the fish are happy or so it seems.

 

[Chaley88]

I just worry about my corals cause I know their sensitive and also kind of expensive.

 

[Chaley88]

The funny part is, I have another one by it and it's doing just fine. It's been in the tank since I got it.

 

[Stigigemla]

The Duncan needs very little light. Blastomussa needs little light but the Acro needs more light. So I guess maybe you have to little light.
How big is the tank and what kind of light do You have?
How many hours is it on?
% dimming?

 

[Chaley88]

The Duncan needs very little light. Blastomussa needs little light but the Acro needs more light. So I guess maybe you have to little light.
How big is the tank and what kind of light do You have?
How many hours is it on?
% dimming?

The tank is 42x18x24 I think. It's a 90. I have 2 orbit marines and their on from 7 to 7 starting slowly for the first hour and they sit at 90% blue and 65% white from about 8am to 6pm when I start turning them down again to match the outside light. I have the acros at the top.

 

[Stigigemla]

If I looked up the correct light they are each 36 watts. 72 watt is not much light for a 90 gallon when there is no lenses.
For my 64 gallon (40 x 20 x 20) tank I used 140 watts with 90 degree lenses. It was good light for the Acroporas but on the bottom it was a lot for duncans and Caulastrea.
You have a bit longer illumination time - I had about 9 hours. Anyway I would take up the blues to 100% and after a few weeks rise the whites a bit too. And maybe increase the time to 12 hours.
But at least a few weeks between every change.

 

[Chaley88]

If I looked up the correct light they are each 36 watts. 72 watt is not much light for a 90 gallon when there is no lenses.
For my 64 gallon (40 x 20 x 20) tank I used 140 watts with 90 degree lenses. It was good light for the Acroporas but on the bottom it was a lot for duncans and Caulastrea.
You have a bit longer illumination time - I had about 9 hours. Anyway I would take up the blues to 100% and after a few weeks rise the whites a bit too. And maybe increase the time to 12 hours.
But at least a few weeks between every change.

According to their website they are 46 watts I believe and I have 2. I spoke with the company who told me at least 90+ and 65+ that's why I'm where I'm at. I know my lighting is a work in progress, I had asked about them the other day and still dont know what to do about them. I dont know if adding another light would be best or just switching all together. The lights are only a few weeks old.

 

[Stigigemla]

Ok they are different lenghts so I guess I looked up a shorter model. I would hang them just 4 inches over the water surface or use the original attachments.
Its a hard question buying new light or not. The light will be enough for a lot of corals coming from deeper water and they look very good in my eyes so of course You can keep them and be a little more restrictive in what corals You buy. I am not shure if it is a good idea to get a third one because they need their cooling so they should be a few inches apart to let the air flow..

 

[jasonrusso]

I've killed 2 rainbow birdsnest, and 90% of a pink one. It's weird because they were all growing very fast, then boom RTN.

The pink one has some branches that are still growing so I left it in.

 

[Chaley88]

It's a good thing I'm not really into sps cause I have a feeling their not for me lol. I want a clam though some day so I gotta figure out my lighting. One day at a time I suppose. I need to fix my water parameters too, besides water changes(dont seem to be working) is there anything else? Iv tried prime and stability, I have carbon and phosguard but my phosphates are still high, my alk is lower around 7.7 while my calcium is off the charts high. I do about a 20% water change every two weeks. Clean my 2 filter socks once a week. I'm gonna guess I'm over feeding. I nitrates are high but my ammonia and nitrites arnt to bad, their high too though.