Pink birds nest, not so pink anymore :(

tatoofr · #1 01/04/2007, 12:42 PM

Hello,
Three weeks ago I bought a pink birdnest that was very pink in color. Now its almost brown, Any ideas why ?
120 g tank
Nitrates 5
Phosphate No reading
Cal 490
Alk 8 dkh
3 m.h. 175 watt 1 12k reeflux
1 10k ushio
1 10 k reeflux
2 p.c. actinics 96 wattt

thanks, frank

BLKTANG · #2 01/04/2007, 12:53 PM

Where do u have it in the tank.

tatoofr · #3 01/04/2007, 01:00 PM

High up,
Between the 10k and 12 k
Do you think it needs more or a whiter light?
Thanks

ycnibrc · #4 01/04/2007, 01:06 PM

nitrate is a little high you should have 0 nitrate. And probably your phosate is there too but your testing kit does not detect it.
Take care of your nitrate and place it where a good current flow through then you will see your color come back.

Anthony

BLKTANG · #5 01/04/2007, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ycnibrc
nitrate is a little high you should have 0 nitrate. And probably your phosate is there too but your testing kit does not detect it.
Take care of your nitrate and place it where a good current flow through then you will see your color come back.

Anthony

I agree.

tatoofr · #6 01/04/2007, 01:13 PM

Thanks guys,
It used to look like the one in your gallery anthony.
Think the lights are ok? Enough?
I cant seem to get the nitrates any lower.

ycnibrc · #7 01/04/2007, 01:37 PM

yeah my bird nest love flow not much direct light. About your nitrate tell me more about your tank then may be I can figure out away for you to keep your nitrate down. I used to have DSB before and I convert to bare bottom to take care off nitrate and phosphate. I do over skim,run carbon 24/7 and change water more often. My system is 160 gal total water and I change 5 gal every 3 days which equal to 50 gal a month that 1/3 off my total volume.

Anthony

tatoofr · #8 01/04/2007, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ycnibrc
yeah my bird nest love flow not much direct light. About your nitrate tell me more about your tank then may be I can figure out away for you to keep your nitrate down. I used to have DSB before and I convert to bare bottom to take care off nitrate and phosphate. I do over skim,run carbon 24/7 and change water more often. My system is 160 gal total water and I change 5 gal every 3 days which equal to 50 gal a month that 1/3 off my total volume.

Anthony

Tank was set up in 1999, with a plenum
Aqua c EV 120 skimmer.
Puragin and carbon are used 24/7 and changed monthly.
Rowa is used inside a reactor.
Heavy fish load which I would think is the problem with the nitrates.
Monthly water changes of 15 gal. are made.
Ozone is also used.
Thanks

Serioussnaps · #9 01/04/2007, 02:21 PM

High nitrates---high nutrients and 10K bulbs....dont get me wrong the 10K bulbs didnt make it brown, but 10K bulbs will really let you know about nutrient levels in your water if you get my drift

Monthly WC's-----theres your problem-------make it every 2 weeks for a couple of months---then make it weekly------you will see your trates come down and your corals wont brown......the 10K bulbs just exacerbate the perception of brown colors due to how yellow the bulbs are

ycnibrc · #10 01/04/2007, 02:24 PM

hmm that 7 years with a DSB plenum. Have you ever change or vacume your sand bed?you have 120 gal tank plus a sum so your total volume will be around 100 gal. You should have at least 25 gal water change every month that will be 1/4 of your total volume. Have you ever think about convert your tank to bare bottom? For now to reduce nitrate you need to make several large water change but you need to think about your plenum set up cause I think that where your nitrate start from.

Anthony

ycnibrc · #11 01/04/2007, 02:27 PM

I have dsb for 6 years until it crash

then I convert to bare bottom.

Anthony

sprite · #12 01/04/2007, 02:47 PM

nice anthony!! sorry bout your crash

ycnibrc · #13 01/04/2007, 02:58 PM

thanks for your compliment. Yeah with dsb it will be hard to run it in a long period. You can't clean all the sand underneath your live rock and it accumulate a lot of detritus and create high nitrate and phosphate eventually

Anthony

Nuuze · #14 01/04/2007, 03:15 PM

I had similar problems with my pink birdsnest when I had it too high close to halides where it turned almost all white. Since then I moved it down to the first tier of rocks next to the sand and up'd the flow and colors turned pink again. Another piece of Tubs birdsnest I was also loosing colors on the first tier of rocks where I had to make a cave for it with rocks from direct light. Its also getting color back now. HTH

chocolateblnt · #15 01/04/2007, 03:39 PM

Yea ... with a DSB you get a lot of detritus stuck directly under your LR but what I've been doing is just gently jiggling the rocks every so often which helps release that detritus and it gets skimmed or wc'd during maintanence. This helps in lowering nitrates impacted in the sand bed. Good luck with your nitrate lowering!