KevinB Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 So I got a small piece of ponape from a member about 2-3 weeks ago and I can't tell if its thriving or not. It's lost a fair amount of color, but seems to be budding new branches. I has a purple birdnest before that was placed higher in the tank and got more light, and it did very well until the entire colony died because of a small change I made to the lighting. Is it possible this one is getting too much light as well now, but still growing branches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 What kind of lighting was it under and what is it under now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinB Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 Its the same lighting, the only change was I removed the egg crate which increased brightness overall by 10% or so Lighting is a DIY LED setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard L Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 This was a challenging coral for me until I did two things: 1. I moved it down to the sand bed at about 100 par which is about half the light that the rest of my sps is getting. 2. I got my phosphate (0.03-0.10ppm) and nitrate (0-1.0 ppm) levels under control BTW - did you get that frag from me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinB Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 Maybe? I got a bunch of frags all at the same time from a couple of sources...But I want to say Yes, it was from you. Wow 100 par is probably half of where its at now...I will definitely move it down. My nitrates and phosphates are both undetectable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Ponope is a low light sps meant to be under overhangs. But different people have them under different heights and flows, and they do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinB Posted May 30, 2013 Author Share Posted May 30, 2013 Good to know...thanks all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I also got a frag of this a few weeks ago and didn't think it was doing so well. So I kept an eye on it and positioning it in different places. Three days ago, my roommate and I broke everything down and did a full rescape of the rock work and coral. The frag broke off of the plug when it dropped and has since been sitting in the crushed coral until I get more super glue to reglue it to the frag plug. It is about 24'' from the light and around 18'' from the water surface. The light is an AI Vega and gets to a max of 65% white and 75% blue, for about 5 hours. I don't know what the par is. I don't know what my phosphates are at, but all other parms are where they need to be. I'd have to say that in the last three days since it has been on the bottom, it is looking much much better than before. Polyp extension is way better. It never lost complete color, but the greenish teal color faded a bit. But now it is more vibrant and especially at night it fluoresces more. I also noticed better, more pinkish if you will, base tissue color. All other SPS have been doing great, so it was bothering me not knowing why this one wasn't doing well. I like what Juice said about it being a low light SPS. I will rethink where it is placed when I get new glue. I'll try to take some pics when I get home. A friend is supposed to be letting me borrow his SLR since I lost mine, and I will be taking a bunch of shots of all corals. So I might wait til then to take some good photos of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I remember researching it back when I was having issues, and that's the info I found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Bird's Nest is really and easy coral to keep healthy, but all too often, keeping their color (or gaining it, it some cases) is the most difficult thing to do! For instance, I have a smaller colony of Pink BN, and from experience, the Pink ones tend to do better in higher light/higher flow. It is really a guessing game with these guys. Just monitor him closely, make sure his polyps are out and happy, and then worry about the color secondly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 on second note, I'm not sure ponape is what I got. It is a birdsnest though. It doesn't look anything like the pics I'm seeing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 my ponape really dislikes high flow/high light. +1 on the comment about them being found in overhangs. I have mine just a bit out of the reach of my LED's, and its doing pretty well. Although, I can see some slight bleaching in areas that I can visibly see are getting more light. Initially I had it on my SPS frag rack.. it was -not- happy about that at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.