Any advice for Birds Nest Coral

[daddio]

I have the chance to trade in some xenia at my LFS. He has some nice frags of pink birds nest that he will trade me. Before I do, I would like some practical advice. My set up is:

75 gallon, about 70lbs Live rock
2x150w 10,000k HQI
2x130w actinic PCs
sump, refugium, powerhead
I drip kalkwasser in my RO/DI makeup water
I change out a 5 gallon bucket of water per week

My water quality has been great
NH: 0
Nitrates/nitrites: 0
PH: 8.3
Alk: Normal (I need to get a test that gives me a better reading than low, normal, high - damn Red Sea test)
Ca: 520
Salinity: 1.023
Temp: 76

I have a plating montipora that I have been using as a guinea pig, and it is growing great. I know my temp is a little low but it had been so cold here that I was getting temp swings at night. I could keep it at 76 as a constant.

Any tips or anything I would need to tinker with to be able to successfully keep birds nest. What food have you had the most success with.

[Jorgens]

Well I picked up a few frags a few weeks ago. 2 plating montis' an acro and a pink birdsnest. I do not have halides (yet). The most hardy of the bunch seems to be the birdsnest as it's growing already. I drip calc as well and paramters are

0/0/25 trats
11alk
430cal
sal 1.025
temp 79

As I said it seems to be the most hardy and I don't have a super amount of flow either. I lost 1 plating monti it bleached on me.

Not sure if that helps but I'd be confident if i were you...

Good luck!

[john]

the higher up on your rock,the better it will grow.mine seems to do great with medium current and strong light.good luck

[daddio]

Thanks. It has been a long time since I lost anything and I want to be sure that I can support what I introduce. I just get nervous. What do you feed? Cyclopeeze? Marine Snow?

I dose my tank right now with DTs mainly for my clam (I know that once they get larger, you really don't have to feed them, but better safe than sorry). I also notice that (it may just be my imagination) my live rock seems more "alive". More critters visible more often. If I switch to a different invert food, should I stop the DTs? My water quality has been great for a long time and I would hate to overdose on unnecessary biological matter

[Jorgens]

I always cringe at that DT"s stuff. It seems to be a headache for alot of people. I use a homeade mush. and all my filter guys are fat and happy. Sponges everywhere.

[john]

you can spot feed with cyclopeeze every few days.

[cheeks69]

There should be plenty of food for it if you have fish {dissolved organics, detritus, bacteria etc.} maybe once or twice a week cyclop-eeze IMHO. AFA the DT's phyto that's more for the Clam and fauna, your corals are carnivorous and will not benefit directly from phyto.

[daddio]

Thanks! If I switch to cyclop-eeze, would it even be necessary to to feed the DT's?

On a totally unrelated subject, the little fish store up the street (Gateway Aquatics) has a tank full of "pieces" of polyps, mushrooms, etc for $8 a piece. I just bought some beautiful bright orange and lime green polyps on a tiny little rock, a chunk of totally pink star polyps and a couple pounds of rubble for $18. In the tank are blue, purple and irridescent green mushrooms (all the expensive stuff) but with this stuff, you don't need much. I hate to spend a ton of money on stuff that grows like a weed. I'm very excited. My wife is ok with me going and spending $8, and I get a new coral to watch.

[cheeks69]

Originally Posted by daddio

Thanks! If I switch to cyclop-eeze, would it even be necessary to to feed the DT's?

That's a real controversial subject. Many believe that by feeding phyto to your filter feeders eventually in turn you increase the amount of zooplankton which corals will eat.

[daddio]

Woah, thats deep. I see what you are saying. Kind of like (sounding like a teenager), if you feed a lionfish live food, it will make them more aggressive, right.

[SueT]

daddio, I would try to lower your calcium to around 420ppm-ish. Over 500 and it's in the high range. Birdsnest should do great with your lighting. They do like a bit more flow that the usual acropora/montipora. This keeps them from getting algae started on the sharp branch tips which is a mess to get rid of. I wouldn't worry about feeding them, like Robert said if you have some fish then they will generate enough waste to feed your sps corals. I don't feed mine any of the over the counter type stuff and they do great.

[daddio]

Thanks for your input...

[DaddyJax]

Smaller birdsnest coral are very hardy and can do well with medium light and flow. The trick to them and when they become difficult is when the size gets on the larger end(softball, melon) they need more flow. Alot of people lose their colonies for what seems no reason after growing it out from frags. Keep this in mind as it gets bigger.

I love birdsnest! Here are a few of mine.
This is now the size of a tennis ball after I tried to frag it. It was the size of a melon!!!

[SueT]

sweet pics!! I also have both the hystrix and caliendrum species. Just love this sps coral. I am waiting on my ORA green polyp birdsnest. Also heard that ORA has a new color morph too. Sounds great too. There is also a pohnepe color morph that has a really cool color and colored tip thing going on.

[mps9506]

Ditto to what DaddyJax said. The colonies tend to grow pretty thick and it is difficult to get flow all the way through the colony without ripping the tissue off the outside branches. I have seen them RTN very rapidly, usually full colonies. Although it can be difficult to tell exactly what caused it. But frags and smaller colonies seem hardy providing the correct tank conditions.

But before you introduce any other SPS I would really recomend getting your Ca down to 400-450 (depends who you ask). Get a quality alk test and find out where that is sitting. This will help you out a lot with getting your sps to grow quickly and minimize your future losses.