How do I frag Pink birds nest?

[coral keeper]

I got a pretty large frag of pink birds nest and a small pease started to bleach and is spreading slowly, I don't want it to reach the main stock, so how do I frag it and where? Here are a few pictures.

Should I frag it like this? Where the red lines are?

 

[nano reefer]

yeah with some kind of clippers. i use wire cutters and they work fine.

 

[reefkprz]

any bone cutters, dikes, or such will work, cutting on the lines you have maked will be fine, but if you dont find/solve the cause of the rescession it will continue.
birds nest tends to do that. the problem often being the lighting is not intense enough, or flow isnt high enough. seriatopora really likes a lot of light and needs alternating/turbulent high flow, and VERY clean water. seriatopora is pickier than a lot of SPS IME.
the fact that you have an open mushroom right next to it would indicate that you need to place it in a spot with far higher light, mushrooms would wither under the type of lighting the birds nest desires.

 

[reefkprz]

what kind of lighting is on that tank?

 

[matt b]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2692612
any bone cutters, dikes, or such will work, cutting on the lines you have maked will be fine, but if you dont find/solve the cause of the rescession it will continue.
birds nest tends to do that. the problem often being the lighting is not intense enough, or flow isnt high enough. seriatopora really likes a lot of light and needs alternating/turbulent high flow, and VERY clean water. seriatopora is pickier than a lot of SPS IME.
the fact that you have an open mushroom right next to it would indicate that you need to place it in a spot with far higher light, mushrooms would wither under the type of lighting the birds nest desires.
What he said

I go to my LFS and buy birdsnest that are 90% bleach and put them in my tank and almost all of them come right back and look AMAZING. It is just cause they have them in low flow and T5s. IME the more the light the more bright pink they will get.

 

[mr_x]

my pink birdsnest started losing color until i put it on the sandbed. now it's very pink. there is a limit to how much light they can stand.

 

[coral keeper]

Its under a 150watt 14k HQI MH. (the tank is a 28 nano cube) The birds nest it about 4 inches from the water surface and the MH is about 2.5 inches high from the water surface. Its in a low flow area. I think This is the problem, low flow... I'll go put it in a high flow area.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by Mr_X
http:///forum/post/2692779
my pink birdsnest started losing color until i put it on the sandbed. now it's very pink. there is a limit to how much light they can stand.
I agree. as with most corals there is a desirable range for their lighting both high and low tolerances, and a lot of times our lighting is sub-par to their needs. often people are running PC or similar lighting and wonder why the SPS is suffering out on the fringes of the light range.
browning out is often due to insufficient light, bleaching to overlighting or light shock (though there are many other reasons for both) such as nutrient levels and so on, I was guessing at underlighting due to the open mushroom. mushrooms dont live at the top of my tank, they alwasy let go or wither due to the light.
recession can be MANY factors. disease, light, flow, george bush (<-had to sorry) lack of trace, lack of proper food, and more. go for flow and lighting first IMO.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/2692836
Its under a 150watt 14k HQI MH. (the tank is a 28 nano cube) The birds nest it about 4 inches from the water surface and the MH is about 2.5 inches high from the water surface.
but it is off center, your light "cone" from hqi is pretty narrow (depending on reflectors) 150 watts is not a lot of light once you get out from under the high par zone. at the very top of the tank is where its narrowest and you have the frag shoved all the way to the back of the tank. I would try centering it more under the bulb and giving it more flow.

 

[coral keeper]

The guy that I bought these corals from were in a 40g ADA under 2x250w DE Phoenix 14k on IceCap.

 

[coral keeper]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2692873
but it is off center, your light "cone" from hqi is pretty narrow (depending on reflectors) 150 watts is not a lot of light once you get out from under the high par zone. at the very top of the tank is where its narrowest and you have the frag shoved all the way to the back of the tank. I would try centering it more under the bulb and giving it more flow.
Ok. I'll go put it on a diff spot with some more flow.

 

[coral keeper]

Actually, its almost, pretty much under the MH, its coning to the birds nest very little. I'll go take a picture and show you right now.

 

[coral keeper]

Here is the picture. I put arrows and circled the pink birds nest.

 

[reefkprz]

consider the white lines about your cone of intensity.

 

[coral keeper]

Ok, Will this work? You see that big metallic green torch coral? Should I switch spots with the birds nest? Put the birds nest where the torch is and put the torch where the birds nest is?

 

[reefkprz]

IMO, yes, it would stand a better chance there. except, if the torch is liking the flow it may not be enough flow for the seriatopora. maybe redirect more flow into that area.
let some other people give you feed back too, dont just keep PMing me for instant replys, there are many people here with lots of expirience with SPS. patience grasshopper. I'm happy to help out when I can, but there are many people here with a vast array of expiriences, and god knows I am not always right. the more peoples input you can get may shed more light on the subject or show an aspect I hadnt considered.

 

[coral keeper]

Ok. Thanks for the help.

 

[coral keeper]

Ok, I moved it to another place and fraged off the bleaching part and added a 250 gph pump for extra flow. Now all the sps are getting a ton of flow. Well, not exactly all, but a lot.