pink birds nest turning brown?

[greggnyce]

My pink birds nest acropora has turned brown almost over night. has any one else had this happen? what is it?

[bkv1997]

Seriatopora or finely branched Stylophora is commonly reffered to as birds nest, not a big deal just wanted to let you know if you decide to look else where.

Where did you get the colony from? Do you know if it was Aquacultured or a Wild Colony? I got mine as a wild colony and it did very similiar to what you are describing... It turned brown very quickly then slowly over about one month in high lighting and high water flow did it start getting it's pink color back...

With stonies I would also check the following.
Calc should be 400ish
Alk should be 3-4 meq/L
Phosphates < .03
Nitrates < 5

Also what is your water flow? I find a common problem in stony tanks is not enough.

Just some suggestions.
Brandon

[jhnrb]

Needs bright light, requires moderate to strong currents, and is not particularly agressive and will react negatively to nearby corals.

My recommendation for water quality is as follows:

* Calcium at or near 450 ppm
* Alkalinity at 3.2 to 4.5 meq/L (9 to 12.5 dKH)
* Phosphate at undetectable levels.
* Aquarium system should be mature (stable for at least a year)

There are exceptions to every rule or opinion, so, make sure your water currents are adequate not blowing the flesh off of the coral but caotic just past the coral for all sides, top and bottom, and bright light. (remember to acclimate from where it came if you know what lighting it was under previously. good luck keep us posted. since BK had a similar problem he is a good source for your . thanks for the question.

[greggnyce]

I have good water movement and about five watts per gallon w/ 175 metal halide and 2 55 actincts. maybe phos levels are to high.

[bkv1997]

Info on my conditions and the placement of the coral.

I have mine 4" under the water.

My lighting and water flow.

2 - 250watt 14k DE metal halides
200 watts of VHO Actinic
100 watts of VHO 6700

Waterflow I have about 5K GPH.
Two Tunze stream 6100 and an iwaski 77RLT

A successfull stony tank requires lots of flow at low velocity, pumps like SEIO and Tunze Stream are great for this.

If can take pictures or anything else of my setup and measure my parameters tonight so you can compare against yours... let me know if I can do anything else to help.

Brandon

[greggnyce]

I tested my phos. it was .5 I know this is high how do I reduce it?

[bkv1997]

Waterchanges, stop feeding foods with ash, and run some phosban or phosgaurd type material.

Also make sure your using RO/DI water as phosphate is added to tap water to keep calcium from building up in the city pipes.

Brandon