Anybody else have trouble growing zoanthids?

[vessxpress1]

I've only had a couple types of zoos that actually did very well in my tank. Others I don't seem to have much luck with. I don't know what the problem is. I can't seem to grow a nice mat of them like I see on here.

I've got 3 seperate frags of eagle eyes and they all seem to be spaced out. They don't cluster up.

I bought a lunar eclipse frag that had one main polyp with a tiny one just begining to grow off it, at the end of February. Here it is the middle of May and the tiny one is now a medium sized one and no new growth. The other 3 head frag isn't showing any considerable growth either.

I had some really nice pink panthers (I think) that seemed to fade away. I've been keeping them all on the bottom in low to moderate flow under T-5s. The tank is fed well with various frozen foods.
Any suggestions?

 

[vessxpress1]

Re: Anybody else have trouble growing zoanthids?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9950185#post9950185 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vessxpress1
I bought a lunar eclipse frag that had one main polyp with a tiny one just begining to grow off it, at the end of February. Here it is the middle of May and the tiny one is now a medium sized one and no new growth.

Ok, well this frag just made a liar out of me.

My urchin turned this plug around two days ago. I turned it around a few minutes ago and low and behold, there's a new polyp growing off the side! Pretty good sized already too. I swear it wasn't there just a few days ago. Still seems like a pretty slow growth rate though.

 

[hexedagain]

Try moving them up, so they get more light. Should help growth.
I have good flow and lighting on mine, and get great growth.

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

higher up i think you will get better colors and better growth, although some zoos dont liek intense light. try moving them midway up at first and see how they respond.

 

[Peter Eichler]

What is your T5 system like as far as bulbs and reflectors? I wouldn't move them up much because my T5s would stress the heck out of any zoanthids that weren't in the bottom half of the tank. Your tank may actually be too clean... I have pretty low nutrients and get good growth out of most, but others shrink and I get very little growth from them. One of mine that I have two frags of is pink panthers and they have been shrinking rather than growing for the last 8 months.

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

i have a 400watt MH and have some zoas at the top of my tank with no stress problems, altough i do have one colony that is on the edge of bleaching [planning on moving it down]

 

[650-IS350]

good light nice flow but not battering them..

 

[reef fanatic]

what kind of urchin? I have a pencil urchin and he cleans polyps off rocks occasionally if they are in his path......until I banished to the sump

 

[DaveJ]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9962480#post9962480 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reef fanatic
what kind of urchin? I have a pencil urchin and he cleans polyps off rocks occasionally if they are in his path......until I banished to the sump

Most pencil urchins eat things like polyps and corals so unless you feed him, he will end up dying a slow death in there.