Best Zoanthid lighting

[lost4ever]

Ive been thinking about making an all zoa tank for a little while now, and im interested to see what you guys think is the best lighting for just zoas.

Im looking for decent growth but most of all to keep the nice colors some of my higher end zoas have. My current tank has a MH over it and a lot of my zoas only up in the shade, even after slowly trying to acclimate them to the light they never really like being in direct light of it.

So if you were to build an all zoa tank, what lights would u put over it?

PC's? T5's? a small MH?

 

[Gamepro_inc]

your gonna get alot of different answers on this one I like my MH but I also have a T5 zoe only tank and both are great I would say it depends on watts, depth, temp and much more. If you do go the MH route just make sure you are able to maintain a happy temp zoes as with most corals dont like temp swings at all. I have lots of zoes in my 34 solana tank under 150watt 14K MH some 6" under light and some 20" under all are fine after a slow acclimation period. I also have many under a 36watt T5 and they are doing well too.

 

[geoxman]

gamepro is correct in different answers! I have never had a polyp dull under uber high par and high K lighting..and that is in very shallow tanks. good luck

 

[Scott-CapeCoral]

It can really depend on the zoa/paly itself. When I upgraded from 150w 20k's, to 250w radium's, some grow and look better, and some are needing to be dropped down in par. My hornets were some that didn't like the new light. They are still happy in shaded areas. Then there are my Candy apple reds, that blew up like a skittle bomb went off.. Chose the light you think your eyes will enjoy, then play with them to see where in the tank they enjoy.

 

[MikeandNicole]

I have zoas in a tank with T5 and a seperate tank with MH and both tanks get great growth. I have also gotten growth in the past under pcs in a nano cube. Really tough to say, also depends on what sort of color you are going after. With T5s you can really change the k ratings around vs MH where you are kinda stuck with one (unless you supplement).

 

[mfinn]

I happen to like my 250watt 20k Radium and 2 x 75 watt VHO 454 bulbs for making my zoanthids look best.
There are a ton of different mh bulbs and ballast combo's to select from, so in no way are you limited.