free zoos as the BEST ZOOS

[tidus10]

My wonderful fiancee went to a fish store about 2 hours away over the weekend with some friends while i had to work..

she came home with a frag of 5 purple hornets! (SCORE!! The guys a friend we dont see often)

Those 5 heads have already grown 3 other heads and have moved off the frag plug.. but my rastas that i have had 2 heads for the longest time have done NOTHING.. and my 007s that had 2 heads finally got a 3rd..

i think i need more free frags..

but it brings up the same thought.. why do some zoos grow better than others? They are all like 1-2" apart, same elevation same light same flow..

 

[650-IS350]

Free99 always the best.

 

[jayball]

I have some zoanthids that grow better under lower light and some that like higher light. I am sure some have adapted to higher or lower flow as well and will have their preferences there as well.

 

[hobineros]

best part of the fast ones... Is you can frag them and sell them, and then buy new ones to keep your addiction to corals at a reasonable rape level of your wallet

 

[ExpensiveHobby]

I have an all zoa nano tank with about a dozen different types. I got 3 heads of rastas that turned into 7 super fast and then completely closed up for the past 4 days. I moved them twice into a different flow. Last night i moved them to my other tank to see what happens.

Zoas just be silly like dat yo

 

[GKorals]

i think once your water is more established it'll take off. I didn't see any real crazy growth for a couple months..then my 1 polyp of rastas took off..now it has over 120+ not to mention all the times I've fragged. all under 2 years

 

[blasterman789]

I've kept various zoa gardens over the years and have experimented with water conditions to see what encourages growth (often to the detriment of other corals). I've also run into the syndrome where some zoa colonies grow slower (or not at all) -vs- others.

I've found that pH is one of the biggest culprits, and low or extremely variable pH seems ot bother some varities but not others. Best example is when I had two frag tanks, and one I dosed calcium hydroxide regularly because SPS frags liked it. Purple hornets loved the hydroxide dosed tank along with a couple other reputed finicky varities, but melted and died in the WC only tank while other varities thrived. I would make the assumption then that deeper water zoas don't like low pH which makes sense. Gobstoppers and king midas seemed to grow slower in the hydroxide tank, but grew at an alarming rate in the WC only tank.

When I had to move on short notice for work I gave a baseball sized rock covered with purple hornets to the nice, hardworking guy at the reef store. He just stood there staring at the bucket