Birdsnest vs Surface Water experiment

[gregzz4]

Thank you !
I'm really happy with this one. It was a small twig 18 months ago and didn't grow much for over a year as my tank was too clean
It's recovered from a mild bleaching - whole thing was light green and white back in Aug

Funny thing is that, about the flow and lighting, I haven't had to change anything as it's gotten bigger

Flow behind it is clockwise from a return across the surface, and flow in front is from an MP10 at it's base height
Nothing is blowing directly on it
Aside from the odd hermit or emerald crawling around, there are no critters inside. Not even our neon or redhead gobies go inside that I've seen

There is 1 branch in the very bottom and centered that is bleached, but it hasn't changed in months so no concerns there
And I'm afraid to remove said branch as I could topple the whole thing
I'm amazed at how little base this critter has for it's size

[gregzz4]

End of experiment

So I'll do a last photo spread

This is when it hit the surface and then moved down Feb 2014



This is a couple months after it was dropped down April 2014

[kien]

It was fun while it lasted :-)

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by kien

It was fun while it lasted :-)

It took months to happen, then it got boring really fast ....

[Ram3500]

When I look at your pictures of your birdsnest, I think that's big. But when you see it in person it's like damm that mother is huge! I think Greg might be feeds his birdsnest steroids. If this keeps up your gonna need a biger boat.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Ram3500

If this keeps up your gonna need a biger boat.

I think you're right



This was almost 3 months ago, and it's not slowing down ....



Maybe I could market Birdsnest Additives as it appears it's the only SPS I can get to grow quickly

In all honesty, I'm considering taking the whole colony into J&L and starting over with a small piece
It's getting out of control and crowding my more favorite pieces

I have to break pieces off of it weekly to access glass cleaning space, and it's inches away from other corals

[riceboy]

Wow I have to admit that is one of the biggest birdsnest I've seen with no die off lol. When ever mine reaches a certain size it seems to hit like a critical mass and start imploding from the inside

[gregzz4]

I've been lucky so far as the light is able to penetrate quite deeply