Anyone ever had zoas lose thier color ?

C

Chupakabra-King

Mmmmmm Goats !
I was wondering if anyone had zoas lose thier color . Have you been able to get thier color back and how did you do it ?

I bought a rock full of the most flourescent green zoas I have ever seen . I put them in the bottom of my tank under a 250W 10K MH and now all their color is gone. Do you think with the right lighting , thier colors will come back ? I have some new 14K bulbs coming in the next couple of weeks . I may get a VHO retrofit kit if I need more blue light .


Thanks for everyone's input in advance ,


Joe
 
What was the lighting of the tank the zoas came from? It is likely that you are giving them more light than they are used to. I'd move them or shade them some so that they get less light and then slowly adapt them.
 
They had them under 175 Watt 20K MH and actinic VHO light . All blue light pretty much . Maybe they are the same color still , I just cannot tell because of the 10K bulbs ?
 
Re: Anyone ever had zoas lose thier color ?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7650866#post7650866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Chupakabra-King
I was wondering if anyone had zoas lose thier color . Have you been able to get thier color back and how did you do it ?

I bought a rock full of the most flourescent green zoas I have ever seen . I put them in the bottom of my tank under a 250W 10K MH and now all their color is gone. Do you think with the right lighting , thier colors will come back ? I have some new 14K bulbs coming in the next couple of weeks . I may get a VHO retrofit kit if I need more blue light .


Thanks for everyone's input in advance ,


Joe
Click to expand...

yep, that will make them fade for sure. even after you put them back under 14k or 20k they will still look faded, and take quite a while to color back up again, if ever. 10k lighting is not for zoas IMO.

i put in that new 14k Iwasaki bulb (looks like 10k), lots of my zoas faded. couldnt stand the bulb, so i got a radium instead. after 2 months running the radium some of my zoas are still faded pretty badly.
 
Wow so you think they are toast as far as color is concerned ?
Damnnnnnn :(


I will be running 2 175W 14K MH bulbs here in the next couple of weeks . Do you think that is too much for zoas and softies ? I also have a 250W , but I dont plan on using it , unless I go to 20K bulbs .
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7657877#post7657877 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Chupakabra-King
Its a 110 Gallon ( 36 X 28 X24 )
Click to expand...

wow, if this is a mostly softie tank, i'd be putting 2x250w 20k bulbs over that tank.

you may have actually had them fade b/c you didnt have *enough* light.
 
Well I do have 1 250 W MH . I would think that all three bulbs would be sufficient . ( (2) 175W & (1) 250W ).


Don't you think so ?

Also, my bulbs are around 4 inches from the water surface. Very close . They have been that way since 1998 and have only lost one bulb to water spray . I have since fixed the water spray problem. The sand bed is 3-4" deep and the zoas are up in the rockwork , not on the bottom . So I would say they are pretty close to the bulbs .

I don't realy like 20Ks , wayyy to blue for me . . . .
 
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gotcha. actually, yeah, all 3 bulbs would work fine. do you know what kind of ballasts you have? are they electronic or magnetic?

i guess for me, having to replace 3 bulbs instead of 2 would be kind of annoying. but you may as well use them if you have them.
 
not to take over the thread. But you spelled Chupacabra wrong. And if you want it to sound real its "La Chupacabra" But you can put El cuz your a guy lol.
 
I have magnetic ballasts . I bought them back in 1998 . I went on the advice of the lighting guy . :rolleyes: I guess when it is time to replace the bulbs again I will buy another 250W ballast and just go with the 250W and save the 175W ones for a future project .


majestic

Yeah I know, I spelled it like that because a local DJ called himself the "Chupakabra King" back in the early 90s when the word supposedly got out about them . I thought the name was so funny I have used it on internet forums ever since . Basically to get a laugh out of people.
 
theres nothing wrong with magnetics, thats what ive always used, and prob best choice in your case.

the magnetic ballasts will overdrive the bulbs, so they wont look as blue (esspecially the 20k's).

from experience seeing a 250w hamilton 14k bulb on a magnetic ballast, it looks really cool at first. but after about 2 months it loses all its hint of blue, and turns completely white. but thats not too big of a deal on a tank your size.

it might be interesting to try the combination of the 250w hamilton 14k in the middle, and 175w XM 20k's on the sides. i bet that would make zoas look amazing.

i wouldnt go with anything less than 14k in the middle though, it will look really weird with a 10k in the middle, and 20k's on the sides.

where in NC are you?
 
I hope my new bulbs keep thier blue spectrum !:( It would suck if they didn't . That was the whole reason I went with them . I wanted get the bluer look to the tank , but wanted to keep the PAR up . All the 20K bulbs I have seen were wayyy to blue to my liking and pretty dim . I tried the 12K sunburst bulbs when they first came on the market . I liked the bulb color , but the PAR was lacking .

Oh yeah I am in the Raleigh area . . .
 
actually, i *think* i read somewhere that the hamilton 14k's have a lower PAR than the XM 20k's

IMO, I don't buy the whole PAR/ppfd stuff. I've seen amazing tanks with hamilton 14k's and XM 15k's, which supposedly have some of the lowest PAR ratings out there.

also, PAR/ppfd is more of a relative term used to identify how well SPS will grow. i've never seen any data that proved it made zoas or any other softies grow faster.

so you already got the 175w hamilton 14k's?
 
oh ok, well, in that case, go with the 175w hamilton 14k's on the sides, and then get a 250w XM 20k for the middle (if its on a magnetic ballast).

IMO, since all are run on magnetic ballasts, it may be a little too blue for your tastes at first, but give them a month to burn in and see the response in color to all your zoas and i think you'll be impressed ;)

edit.....OR, better yet. try out the XM 15k. it is my all time favorite bulb for zoas. the only strange problem it had, was that a year ago when they first came out, the XM 15k wasnt as bright as the XM 20k. very odd. but i heard they have fixed the "problem".
 
Ok will do . I havent bought a bulb for the 250W yet , so that may work . Thanks for your input ! I have a hard time choosing bulbs !


Thanks :)


Joe
 
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