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LouH
08/04/2009, 07:48 PM
Do Bird's Nest corals generally like to be out of the way of direct water flow, or are they OK with it? I use two Tunze powerheads run on a Tunze controller, and they intermittantly turn on and off (every 4 seconds). I have no laminar flow directly hitting any corals in my tank.

I recently moved my Bird's Nest from the rear of the tank to the front because it is a larger specimen and looks better placed there. Before moving it this colony had a couple of small areas where a brown slime algae had taken hold. Since I've moved the coral, this algae is decimating it. The new placement puts the coral more in line with the flow path of the pulsing Tunze on that side of the tank. This is definately more flow than it had in its previous location. Do you think that flow is the problem here? The move was in a horizontal direction, so a change in lighting intensity is not an issue. No other corals in the tank have this problem.

I just ordered 100 blue legged hermits to hopefully give the coral some help.

Lou

Stanley-Reefer
08/04/2009, 07:50 PM
they need a good bit of movement as they grow though to get into the coral body as it will become very intricate.

LouH
08/04/2009, 08:39 PM
I'm not so sure that this is the issue in this particular situation. The coral gets great flow. I had a fellow reefer tell me that he thought that the increased flow prevented the algae's predators (snails and hermits) from grazing it off of the coral. I thought that the theory had some merit, hence the order for 100 hermits.

Lou;)

tastingSalty
08/04/2009, 09:12 PM
Mine does not like too much flow, however it is still small - not yet a colony.

burton14e7
08/04/2009, 09:31 PM
Mine loved to be in the downdraft below a vortech mp40w

LouH
08/04/2009, 09:34 PM
"Mine loved to be in the downdraft below a vortech mp40w"

How much flow does that pump put out?

moo0o
08/05/2009, 12:51 AM
500-3000gph

LouH
08/05/2009, 06:59 AM
As a guestimate, how much flow do you think that it is putting out at the setting you're using in your tank?

Stanley-Reefer
08/05/2009, 05:37 PM
My 175 where I have a pink and a green BN has about 12k gal/h flow an hour....as this coral grows it will need heavy indirect flow.

LouH
08/05/2009, 06:48 PM
Good info. Thanks Stanley-Reefer:rollface: