Sigh! Bleaching or what?

Emma01 · May 5, 2019

Hi all.
This morning I noticed that my Birdnest frag has what looks like ‘white/cream patches’ on the branches.
Is this bleaching, growth or something else? The ‘white patches’ seem to be the same colour as the tips during growth. The base is of normal colour, with no whiteness etc and the polyps fully extend.
Is this the branches branching out to grow more branches? (This is what I’m hoping it is!)
I have a low nutrient tank. The SPS are fed 2-3 times week with reef roids
Parameters-
Alk-7.7 -8.0 (stable)
Salinity- 1025
Ca-400
Mg-1350
Ph- 8.1 (stable)

Lighting= Ecotech radion. On acclimation mode. 50%
P.s- sorry about the poor picture quality.

Thanks
Emma

29bonsaireef · May 5, 2019

Kind of hard to tell in the pic. Looks like it might be slightly bleaching, what's the flow like? and how far from the lights?

Emma01 · May 5, 2019

29bonsaireef said:
Kind of hard to tell in the pic. Looks like it might be slightly bleaching, what's the flow like? and how far from the lights?

It’s medium flow I’d say- but not random flow, it’s the power head providing the flow, I’ve no wave maker that I’m using in there.
It’s a 30 litre nano cube. So pretty
limited to what wave maker I can put in there without everything
blowing around.

They’re low-1/2 way up the tank at the moment. The white bits are bumpy- what does that indicate?
Bleaching would be my luck!
Thanks
Emma

29bonsaireef · May 5, 2019

If they are little bumps it probably is new growth, just my guess

LobsterOfJustice · May 5, 2019

White bumps means tips of new branches

Emma01 · May 5, 2019

LobsterOfJustice said:
White bumps means tips of new branches

I really do hope so. I’m providing with everything that I think it requires (having said that, I’ve lost other corals in the past where I think I’ve provided everything for it). Sometimes, this hobby is just absolutely disheartening.

I mentioned earlier about my flow.
Now, I’ve been looking at getting an Mp10. Is this going to be too much flow for a small tank?/ am I able to dial it right down to provide random flow for my new SPS’s?
What do you guys all think?

Thanks
Emma.