how to kill a birdsnest

[russ-iv]

nest is still hanging in there but no improvement or worsening.

9.25 dkh (red sea)
0 phos (api and salifert)
<1 trate (api) not gonna bother with red sea
ill test calcium tomorrow

i did get some diatoms on my front glass though. so some nutrients were burned up with my feedings.

birdsnest is retracting during the end of the photo period is all i am observing. otherwise his polyps are out.

 

[crew]

Russ-IV;1039979 wrote: birdsnest is retracting during the end of the photo period is all i am observing. otherwise his polyps are out.

Mine does the same thing I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[russ-iv]

Crew;1040107 wrote: Mine does the same thing I wouldn't worry about it.

oh good.

for the first couple days i get one their polyps seem to always be out

 

[russ-iv]

0 - .25 nitrate (red sea Pro) -just picked it up it and it shows grey (until other thread i asked about disagrees)
425 calcium (red sea Pro)
9 dkh (red sea)
ph 8.2 (red sea)
1480 mag (red sea pro)
0 phos (salifert)

i dosed 50 ml of acropower in hopes of some sort of response before alk drops to 7

nothing is dying yet. but paling of all corals is evident. birdsnest is actually responsive since feeding and dosing.

 

[russ-iv]

Day 7: (one day left til doomsday)

alt="" />
noticeable polyp retraction
seems acro power had no "immediate" effect or needs rest

lights will be on "cloudy" setting today which should drop it to 5%

 

[russ-iv]

ok this is ridiculous.
ive been feeding whole cubes of mysis twice a day. (2x)
and spot feeding corals every other day.

i took gfo offline last night and only received just barely traceable nitrate but phosphate is 0 (salifert)
some cyano is forming in my fuge's clear nylon hoses so the light is now off.

the only thing i have to show for my actions is that mossy earthy smell established tanks get.

i generally dont like to do this but it IS a big tank....

alt="" />
operation nitrate factory to begin

and of course the sanity check....

alt="" />

 

[kirkwood]

I find BN to be about as hardy and easy an sps as you can find. If your kh is slowly dropping from 10 to 8 over a week that wouldn't cause rtn. The question us how quickly are u bringing the kh back up to 10? I wouldn't move kh more than 0.5 in a day. You could also be RTNing possibly from a water change if your new water is drastically different. Basically something in your regimen is triggering that causes a drastic change in water chemistry is causing it.

 

[russ-iv]

Kirkwood;1040447 wrote: I find BN to be about as hardy and easy an sps as you can find. If your kh is slowly dropping from 10 to 8 over a week that wouldn't cause rtn. The question us how quickly are u bringing the kh back up to 10? I wouldn't move kh more than 0.5 in a day. You could also be RTNing possibly from a water change if your new water is drastically different. Basically something in your regimen is triggering that causes a drastic change in water chemistry is causing it.

yeah dkh is 8.5 atm. letting it get to 7.5. however, im having difficulty getting phosphates and nitrates to end up in the water column.

i finally got a super super light pink with red sea pro. .25 nitrate

 

[russ-iv]

alt="" />

i saw a sliver yesterday (stn) before i dosed but today was more prevelent. day 8 again.

the only positive i can observe is that it hasnt increased since this morning. i have wp40s on night mode so it may increase when i wake up due to lack of flow. we'll see.

i have observed a huge coralline response though. instead of it receding white like it usually does.

alk 8
nitrate .25 but less than .5
phos 0 (dosed 5 mill flourish) 300 gal volume still undetectable
calcium 475 (bumped)
ph 8.0 (man this thing stays 8 all day)
1.025 (was 1.024)

 

[outdrsyguy1]

I really wish a couple more experienced people would chime in but I really don't think it's a water parameter issue. Even lack of nutrients doesn't make sense with stn in a weeks time. I think you really need to step way back and look at all the aspects of your tank and equipment to make sure there are no leeching chemicals, stagnant water, airborne chemicals in the house. Just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[qasimja]

maybe im not following are you trying to raise your phosphate and nitrate? im curious why are you trying to do that

 

[outdrsyguy1]

Yes. He's trying to raise it because it's zero since his tank is so new. I had the same thing happen in my new tank and raising nutrients helped. Corals will starve at dead zero nitrates and phosphates. Unless your blasting food through there and removing it crazy fast by multiple removal means which he's not doing. Still don't think starvation can cause stn in 8 days. Color loss yes but stn?

 

[dawgface]

outdrsyguy1;1040520 wrote: I really wish a couple more experienced people would chime in but I really don't think it's a water parameter issue. Even lack of nutrients doesn't make sense with stn in a weeks time. I think you really need to step way back and look at all the aspects of your tank and equipment to make sure there are no leeching chemicals, stagnant water, airborne chemicals in the house. Just doesn't make sense to me.

For me it seems easy and while it may be frustrating some things in life just simply do not have short cuts, reef tanks being one of them. Then you have new reef setups which require a whole new level of patience.

Microfauna and flora are always at a delicate state within our tanks. new setup that state can be critical for months with the best husbandry practices. Without consistency your just cutting of your leg to save your foot.

 

[russ-iv]

DawgFace;1040539 wrote: For me it seems easy and while it may be frustrating some things in life just simply do not have short cuts, reef tanks being one of them. Then you have new reef setups which require a whole new level of patience.

Microfauna and flora are always at a delicate state within our tanks. new setup that state can be critical for months with the best husbandry practices. Without consistency your just cutting of your leg to save your foot.

this

although ive seen some people do it before, my hubandry may just not be at their level yet.

 

[russ-iv]

outdrsyguy1;1040522 wrote: Yes. He's trying to raise it because it's zero since his tank is so new. I had the same thing happen in my new tank and raising nutrients helped. Corals will starve at dead zero nitrates and phosphates. Unless your blasting food through there and removing it crazy fast by multiple removal means which he's not doing. Still don't think starvation can cause stn in 8 days. Color loss yes but stn?

idk. i just observe polyps extend less and less over the course of a week. then once they are just about inside the skeleton stn appears either at the base or one of the tips and it goes downhill from there

 

[russ-iv]

day 9

alt="" />

i throw a petco pink birdsnest idc about and he shows growth tips. wth. may try green ora again.

i literally just wedged him there to see what he would do

 

[russ-iv]

alt="" />

i noticed my petco birdsnest was doing the same thing a couple days ago after maintenance. so i put him in front of my powerhead and cut gfo off again. 16th day.

alk has been a stable 7.8-8.1 all week. all i did was change my gfo out.

green birdsnest beside him is unaffected.

so sick of giving them the best turbulent flow and light that i moved the green one down. that plateu will be named "angry birdsnest peak".

also as another slight measure i bumped alk up to 8.5

every other sps, softie and lps is unchanged.

its like their polyps fully retract inside the coral over time, looking like little dark pinholes and then the waiting game for stn.