the coral itself looks healthy, i see the tiny polyps on it, but its more like a pale brown color, no pink, i could have sworn it was pink when i bought it lol, i have alot of coral in my tank that i forgot about my pink birdsnest. anyway my friend said all it is, is that i have low kh. is this true? i measured it and it was 9 dkh, thats not that low is it? my calcium is at 480. could it be that its just a not a pink birdsnest and that its just a pale brown birdsnest? here is a pic. its a little fuzzy for some reason but you can see the color is not pink. how can i get it to pink?

In my experience they loose the pink because of the lighting. I have 2 Different birdsnest. One was hot pink when I picked it up. The placement in my tank is just below half way down. Now instead of the hot pink it is now green base with purple polyps.
My big colony of tubs purple polyps nest was recently located at the top of the water(2 months ago) and in the direct light areas it has changed to bright pink, however in the shaded and indirect light it is still green.
I think that the way to keep the pink is to blast it with light.
My lighting is 2x250 10k xm and 4xt5ho actinic.

yeah, i agree with 3mm3, mine is also placed a little more than half way down in my tank and it is more brownish red now. i am planning on moving it up toward the top of the tank and that SHOULD recover its color. it is all about placement and flow, so i would try placing it directly under a halide and see what it does then.

well lighting might be the problem, but i have moved it in a few different spots in my tank and never had success, i was afraid to put it right under the bright light up close to the top but i might have to try that, i have the
pfo i4 solaris led lighting system. i will try and move it close to the top in direct light soon and see what happens.

I actually started out with a brown one from MACNA in Sept. It sits about 10" under a 175W 10K MH and definitely has more color now 4 months later. Under actinic some of it has a slight green tint. With the full daylight it is definitley more pinkr now (or more red or orange or something different than before anyway).

give it a month or so every time you move it to regain its coloration.

One of the changes I noticed was that things colored up nicely under my Solaris. Maybe it just needs a bit more time.

I forgot to mention that both of my nests are in med-high flow

well i switched it up with my moonstone, i placed it right under one of the bays of led lights about 10" below the light in med to high flow. i hope my moonstone doesnt get mad, but its seen better days anyway. i have a 1/2 circle tank so its hard to adjust the corals to get enough light especially with the solaris, i now once i upgrade my tank i wont be getting a 1/2 circle tank anymore lol and ill just switch this one to a fish only.

well it still doesnt look like its turning any other color than what it is now, do you guys think its just this color naturally and is not a pink birdsnest? just a plain birdsnest? here is a most recent pic.

it has only been about 10 days. it can take up to a few MONTHS to get its color back. here is mine when low in the tank ...

it is directly under the hippo tang
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n75/lReef_lKeeper/rightoftank.jpg

and here it is tonight (10 days later, just starting to color back up) ...
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n75/lReef_lKeeper/birdsnest-1.jpg

i am planning on moving it again tonight to get it DIRECTLY under the halide. right now it is off to the side and i do not like where it is, but it would probably be fine there and color back up soon.

here it is when i first got it though ...
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n75/lReef_lKeeper/righttankshot.jpg

TLP, that coral does not look good at all and I think you need to do further testing of the water to make sure you don't have any nitrate issues or anything else. Excess phosphates can also cause this. I see quite a bit of tissue necrosis on that thing also. How stable do you keep your calcium and alkalinity? Stability in these 2 areas are a HUGE deal with keeping any SPS coral. Do some testing and let us know what you come up with. HTH, Joe.

Agreed,your birdsnest appears to have a lot of bleaching from the base extending up through the branches.I hope the spread has stopped otherwise it will be dead in a few days at best.
How old are your bulbs ,also if your calcium is at 480 I'm surprised to see no sign of calcerous algae in your pic.
Goodluck with your tank,you may wish to consider having someone babysit your SPS's until you resolve the deficiencies in your system.

Hi Tusco, :welcome: to TR.

tlpmyd I was wondering if you had an update on how the coral is doing for you?
Here is a picture of what mine looks like in high light. Not the best picture Sorry for the glare
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l202/mmm33/birdnest-2.jpg

And this is what it looked like in lower light......hhhmmm..... I kinda liked it better the low light way. I may have to change my tank around now :eek:

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l202/mmm33/birdnest-1.jpg