Birds nest

[Flame_Angel]

Well I have had my 125 gal set up running very smoothly and would like to try some pink birds nest as my first sps coral. MY tank doesn,t have MH lighting though only pc. I did this because i thought i would try a tank with only pc lighting to se what happends... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Well everything is going great, I have lots of room and about 600 watts of pc lighting over the tank, actinic and natural day. I heard that birds nest can thrive under this lighting. Any advice whould be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Chuck S]

Seriatopora does come from a more protected reef environment as is seen evident by its natural brittle growth pattern. Their growth pattern changes with their environment though as do most corals. However I would caution you on your lighting. Most dimmer reefs that have SPS are along the lines of this lighting scheme( example 4 VHO over a 55 gallon ). I have many a reef with Power Compact lighting but to grow SPS decently I employ like 220 watts over a 20 gallon prop tank or 220 watts over a 29 gallon display. I have 110 watts over a 25 gallon tank in my kitchen. This tank is along the same intensity of yours. I use it as a soft coral tank.

If you want to try SPS in this tank put them up the top of the reef structure. Also if you do get the seriatopora do not be surprised if it turnes brownish as the zooxanthellae multiply to be able to capture enough light. Other good low light SPS corals are pavona, hydrophorna, anacropora(rare), porites and some montipora varieties.

Don't mean to sound negative /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif My 55 which was only 2 VHO and 2 NO I upgraded to all VHO just because I wanted to start keeping SPS in their and have it grow. I learned from experience you can not expect SPS corals to thrive in that little light. I am not saying you can not do it. Just that you will not have the light penetration in the water you think. I own an apogee PAR meter and I can tell you intensity drop off is real fast. The Inverse Square Law does not lie and is constant. Flourescents as a bulb can be quite bright but there light intensity drops rapidly. This is why no one suggests putting SPS on the bottom of a tank. Even with halides it is like this. Placement is everything.

[Katspaw]

Chuck is right, I ran PC Compacts for a few years before switching over to MH bulbs. I was able to maintain a few SPS corals at the very top of the water coloum, but they didn't grow. And most were brown after a month or so. Two of the SPS I had were a pink and a Purple Seria. I lost the pink when I moved to a larger tank, but the Purple survived and has grown quite well under MH

Tracey

[geo]

that is a coral that I have never had any luck with. I have had the opportunity to place a few frags on different occasions in my tank, none of them made it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[SERVO]

I bought into the PC set up when I started my first tank in 99. I had limited success to say the least. Unfortunately, the sps corals I had survived for a short period of time and then would always turn the corner for the worst. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ugh.gif Once you have a system that "thrives" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif with MH, you wonder why you would want anything else. At the time I thought PC's were the way to go (electric bill, heat, cost of replacement bulbs etc) however, there is nothing more satisfying than a tank that has acropora growing on the glass of your tank. I doubt you could ever do this with any amount of wattage PC available. As an aside, GARF once stated that they were growing SPS corals with the VIBRANT colors you see on their site with Florescent lights! I dont buy it. As Chuck has pontificated many of many times, you can never have enough light. VIVE LA METAL HALIDES /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Servo

[Chuck S]

Yes Servo I do like talking lighting. I personally run every type just to be able to discuss the good the bad and the ugly.

[Overboard]

I agree.

[Flatlander]

I find my colony to really love intense light and water movement. When I first purchased it, as many, it never shipped well. I was only able to save a small 2mm piece, that was still pink. From it, I grew two nice colonies.

They did best when right under the 175 10K- 400 12K- 175 10K combination. When I changed to all soft corals, I sold them to my dealer. They were in his 500g grow out systems, with natural sunlight from skylights. {he had yet to add the 400w Radium supplemental}. They almost wasted away.

Since starting my new tank, I bought one colony back. Its again doing well, at the top of the reef, being blasted by 3- 400w lights and current.

[SueT]

I have to agree here that this type of lighting for any sps especially seriatopora will not be enough to keep this sps coral. I have had several frags and they are either so picky about their placement that they just go into decline and die off. I have a maroon polyped seriatopora now that has done good for me, but it has to be in the right place or it will start to go bad. For that one it has to be right up under a 250w 65k iwasaki and in moderate current. The other bright pink that may be a seriatopora caliendrum is not picky about where it is as long as it is close to the 250w, with good current. That is another absolute necessity for seriatopora...good current. These corals are notorious for dying tips and algae getting a foothold and then suffocating the tissue right down the branch.

[Guy]

Here's a pic of mine under 6 URI VHO's:
http://guynterry.com/reef/coral/pink_birds_nest.jpg

[slojmn]

Guy, Wow that is a beauty. I guess you are having some luck with the VHO alone. Let's see, 6 bulbs, 110w or 140w? So somewhere in the neighborhood of 660w-840w of lights. Seems like it is working under those conditions for Guy. I think the PC light and the VHO light in the same wattage are two really different things though. I have yet to see to many reefers keeping sps successfully under PC lighting only. I may have a small data base in my head that leads me to this opinion so correct me if I am wrong.

[Flame_Angel]

Wow that is a nice coral, thats why i wanted to try to keep one.... Well i will have to wait till i get my new set up in about a year or so and then keep sps. For now i'll stick with lps and anenomes, I have had more then success with my bubble tips, one turned to 5 in about a year... lol. Does any one think i might be able to keep a montipora digita in my pc set up , 6x55w 4x96w set up, i do have very good water flow threw out the tank. Thank you guys for your advise, I love this sight. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Chuck S]

Montipora digitata is an easy SPS coral to keep. I think it would do quite well for you under Power Compact. You might not get explosive growth or anything but it should keep healthy and grow. Very good SPS starter coral along with a Porites if you want to try that one as well.

[Flame_Angel]

Yes!!! I just got back from a fish store in L.A. where i purchased a brown/green montipora digiata(good size pice about 3x3 inches) with purpule tips for 30$ now i have an sps coral in my pc set up. Time to see how it does, they also had a large 8inch diameter hydrophornia??? dont really know the spelling... for 70$ i might go back to get... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin.gif

[Chuck S]

Give it time. You just added this coral. One thing people do is buy to fast. There is not an easy fast way to create a living healthy ecosystem. Another thing people overlook because of their obsession with lighting is the equal is not more important water flow issue. There must be a good amount of it especially when SPS is concerned.

Now if you have the kind of money to plop down on a $70.00 piece or Hydnophora ( correct spelling /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif I might suggest some more worthwhile ways to get corals for you. I find the hardier corals are fragments from other peoples tanks. These corals have been grown in aquarium conditions and are more hardy that wild ones just coming out of the sea. Also you get to search and pick what you want provided you can provide for it. Alot of the fun of reefkeeping is watching things grow.

I have gone to people's houses ( I do not say anything I behave /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) and looked at their tanks and they are the ones plopping down hard earned dough on all the SHOW size corals and bragging about their tanks. You know the people we have all seen them. Every coral in their tanks can be moved as it is never attached to the structure. Hell I love when I browse the boards and someone posts a beautiful picture of a coral in their tank but you look at the rest of the picture and see macro algae right next to it and slime algae growing on the back wall ( they only photograph the nice coral by choice ). Deep in your mind you know that coral will be dead in a few months. If they really irratate me I will invite them to come see my tanks where the big corals are actually attached to the structure grown that way from little tiny frags. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif I tend to practice what I preach, ETHICAL REEFKEEPING

The point I am getting at Matt is patience is a virtue and required in reefkeeping. There is no fast and easy fix or tank. See how you do with the Monti and maybe scope out where you might get some frags that would do well in lower lit conditions. By the way Hydnophora would do good under PC conditions.

[Katspaw]

I have to say Chuck that you are right. I love watching corals grow. And it is just as much fun trading them. When I got the Purple Bird's Nest from Tim 1 1/2 years ago, it was about an inch long. It has done quite well in my tank and I am so happy with it's progress. Here is a picture of it as of in the summer time
Tracey

[Katspaw]

This is a picture of it as of Jan 1st 2003.

[Flame_Angel]

Ya Chuck your right, It has been a long time since i got a new coral(about 1 year) and was exited, I usually wait a while, around 6-8 weeks before I buy another. This time will be no exception, I will wait and get a frag... sounds better then spending 70$ anyway. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angelwings.gif

[Chuck S]

Exactly. I can't tell ya the last time I spent money on corals.