Birdsnest vs Surface Water experiment

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by jorjef

You're right, back to the experiment....and dry eyes.

You might as well go do your laundry as this may take awhile
And you can blink now 'cause it will be a few hours before I update the pics

[Spyd]

I had this happen to an A. Convexa in my old tank. The tips just grew flatter and flatter. It would definitely be interesting to see it happen to such a large multi branched Birdsnest though.

[gregzz4]

Time for an update
First some growth shots

Sept 19/13 just actinics


Oct 18/13 actinics and coral next gens
2 tips are touching the surface


Dec 21/13 all 8 bulbs
I can't get it all in the frame to match the previous shots. It's now 9" x 9" x 6" tall
Numerous tips are now touching the surface


The surface tips are flattening out and starting to grow sideways, but haven't become thicker
And the whole coral is coloring up more now that's it's reached the top

It's never out of the water like in the pic

[michika]

Very cool!

As it is growing are you finding you need to provide additional flow or pruning to keep the centermost portions, those most shielded from flow and or light, alive? Your colony looks very healthy in the center. Does this colony have any commensal crabs, fish, etc.?

[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 :-)